This year is the opening year of the "13th Five-Year Plan". As a national diplomatic calling card, railway construction plays an important role in driving the national economy, ensuring employment and travel for the people, and absorbing excess capacity.
The reporter learned from China Railway Corporation that in 2015, national railway fixed asset investment reached 823.8 billion yuan, exceeding the target by 23.8 billion yuan; 9,531 kilometers of new railway lines were put into operation, exceeding the target by 1,531 kilometers, both achieving the best historical results.
The "Recommendations of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China on Formulating the 13th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development", officially released on November 3, 2015, proposed that during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the country is expected to build no less than 23,000 kilometers of new railways, with a total investment of no less than 2.8 trillion yuan.
Local "13th Five-Year Plan" plans have also been introduced, with railway investment as a highlight
Recently, some local "13th Five-Year Plan" plans have also been introduced, with railway investment as a highlight. For example, Hebei Province proposed in its "13th Five-Year Plan" to actively develop intercity railways and urban rail transit. It is understood that the Hebei Provincial Development and Reform Commission recently drafted the "Notice on Accelerating the Construction of Intercity Railways" and listed rail transit as a key task of the province's "13th Five-Year Plan" infrastructure construction, establishing the Hebei Intercity Railway Development Fund and innovating construction and operation models.
In addition, Shaanxi Province plans to invest about 250 billion yuan during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period to improve its railway transportation network, building about 4,600 kilometers of railway lines, and striving to reach 7,000 kilometers of operating mileage. Fujian Province has initially planned an investment of nearly 160 billion yuan to build 1,374 kilometers of new lines, exceeding the total current mileage of fast railways in the province. Beijing also plans to build more than 800 kilometers of suburban railways, more than 900 kilometers of urban rail transit, and more than 1,300 kilometers of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei intercity railways by 2020.
Multiple provinces release intercity railway network "13th Five-Year Plan" plans
Recently, the National Railway Administration has submitted the draft for comments on the basic ideas of the railway development "13th Five-Year Plan" to the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Transport. According to a professor from Beijing Jiaotong University who participated in the plan demonstration, the basic idea of the plan, from the perspective of railway construction, is that future focus will shift from major long trunk lines to medium- and short-distance intercity railways, from the eastern region to the central and western regions, and from inland to border areas.
Xinjiang has completed the first draft of the plan
Xinjiang is at the intersection of these three shifts. Recently, the official website of the Xinjiang Development and Reform Commission announced that the "Xinjiang 13th Five-Year Plan Intercity Railway Plan" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan") has completed its first draft.
According to reports, the "Plan" was compiled by the First Survey and Design Institute of China Railway. During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, Xinjiang will build an intercity railway network centered on Urumqi, extending east to Mulei, west to Karamay, north to Zhundong, and south to Kashgar, and actively explore the possibility of extending westward to Ili Prefecture. Key efforts will be made to advance the preliminary work of the Urumqi-Changji-Shihezi-Kuitun intercity railway, the Urumqi-Zhundong intercity railway, and the Urumqi-Kashgar intercity railway, striving to include them in the "13th Five-Year Plan" projects.
At present, the railway network density in Xinjiang is 29.6 kilometers per 10,000 square kilometers, only 29.1% of the national average of 101.4 kilometers per 10,000 square kilometers, and in the western region it is only higher than Tibet and Qinghai. Therefore, Xinjiang's economic development requires the support of a denser road and railway network, and the construction of intercity railways is of great significance to Xinjiang.
The Xinjiang Development and Reform Commission stated that planning the construction of intercity railways in Xinjiang in advance is conducive to realizing the strategic vision of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the new urbanization of "urban-rural complementarity and coordinated development"; it is of great significance for improving the comprehensive transportation system centered on the Urumqi urban agglomeration, building an intercity railway transportation network, meeting intercity passenger travel needs, promoting regional economic and social development, and ensuring and improving people's livelihoods.
As the first step of the plan, in 2015, the Xinjiang railway department planned to operate intercity trains from Urumqi to Turpan, Korla, and Zhundong.
The construction of intercity railways requires substantial funding. How will Xinjiang raise the funds? Zhang Chunlin, director of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region Development and Reform Commission and director of the Autonomous Region Aid-Xinjiang Office, stated that Xinjiang will accelerate the reform of the railway investment and financing system, using central government fiscal funds and railway development funds as guidance to attract social capital to invest in the construction of intercity railways with market potential.
However, the aforementioned person close to China Railway Corporation said that although since around 2012, the former Ministry of Railways and today's China Railway Corporation have delegated the construction rights of intercity railways to local governments, with the central government's increasing emphasis on railway construction in the central and western regions in the past two years, China Railway Corporation is now slowly beginning to get involved in the financing and construction of local intercity railways.
The person said that since intercity railways in the central and western regions are government-supported projects, China Railway Corporation, as the leading department of railway construction, cannot stand aside. In addition, in the past two years, China Railway Corporation has received support from above in bank loans and bond issuance, so financing is not difficult. Therefore, allocating part of the funds to support local intercity railway construction, especially in the central and western regions, is also doing its part.
The "13th Five-Year Plan" reveals: Fujian's fast railway mileage to double in five years
By the end of 2015, Fujian Province's fast railway mileage was 1,500 kilometers, and five years later, this number will double to 3,000 kilometers.
The "13th Five-Year Plan" (draft) clearly proposes to build a modern comprehensive transportation system in the province within five years, with railways as the priority. The province will accelerate the construction of the "three vertical and six horizontal" railway network and expand railway channels in and out of the province.
At present, the province has achieved fast railway EMU services to neighboring provinces such as Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Guangdong. With the start of construction of the Fuzhou-Xiamen passenger dedicated line and the Pucheng-Meizhou railway this year, Fujian is expected to add a railway channel from western Fujian to Guangdong. During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, a fast railway line from Ningde to Quzhou, Zhejiang, is also expected to be built, adding another out-of-province channel in eastern Fujian.
In addition, intercity rail transit will be the focus of construction in Fuzhou, Xiamen, and Quanzhou during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period. It is understood that by 2020, the province's intercity rail transit operating and under-construction mileage will exceed 500 kilometers, and urban rail transit operating and under-construction mileage will exceed 300 kilometers, including the construction of Xiamen Metro Lines 1, 2, 3, and 4.