On January 2, China Railway Corporation held its 2018 work conference. At the meeting, the corporation put forward its main railway work targets for 2018: 4,000 km of new lines will be commissioned in 2018, including 3,500 km of high-speed rail.
　　In addition, regarding the targets for 2020, Lu Dongfu, Party Secretary and General Manager of China Railway Corporation, pointed out that the scale and quality of the railway network will reach world-leading levels, and efforts will be made to ensure that high-speed rail covers more than 80% of large cities by 2020.
　　At the work conference on the 2nd, Lu Dongfu reviewed the achievements of 2017, when China's railway technical standards and equipment levels were substantially improved.
　　Lu Dongfu said that from 2013 to 2017, railways across the country completed fixed asset investment of 3.9 trillion yuan, and added 29,400 km of railway operating mileage, including 15,700 km of high-speed rail, making it the period with the most concentrated and highest-intensity railway investment in history. By the end of 2017, the national railway operating mileage reached 127,000 km, including 25,000 km of high-speed rail, accounting for 66.3% of the world's total high-speed rail, while the railway electrification rate and double-track rate ranked first and second in the world, respectively.
　　It is worth noting that in 2017, fixed asset investment in the national railway industry reached 801 billion yuan, of which 760.6 billion yuan was completed by national railways; 35 new projects were started, with newly added investment scale of 356 billion yuan; 3,038 km of new lines were commissioned, and the "four vertical and four horizontal" high-speed rail network was completed and put into operation ahead of schedule. National railways completed passenger transport volume of 3.039 billion passengers, up 9.6% year on year, of which EMUs carried 1.713 billion passengers, up 18.7% year on year, accounting for 56.4%; freight transport volume was 2.918 billion tons, up 10.1% year on year, and 3,600 China-Europe freight trains were operated. China Standard EMUs were named "Fuxing" and achieved commercial operation at 350 km/h, setting a new benchmark for high-speed rail construction and operation in the world. Major progress was made in the corporate system reform of national railway enterprises, with 18 railway administrations restructured into group companies, and the organizational structure reform of the corporation's headquarters was successfully completed, with its departments, internal institutions, and staffing reduced by 10.3%, 26.6%, and 8.1%, respectively.
　　Regarding the targets for 2020, first, the scale and quality of the railway network should reach world-leading levels. Lu Dongfu said that by 2020, the national railway operating mileage should reach about 150,000 km, basically covering cities with a population of more than 200,000, including about 30,000 km of high-speed rail, covering more than 80% of large cities. Second, railway technical equipment and innovation capabilities should reach world-leading levels. Lu Dongfu said that the number of EMUs in stock should reach about 3,800 standard sets, including more than 900 sets of "Fuxing" EMUs. Third, railway transport safety and operation and management levels should reach world-leading levels. Fourth, the level of institutional and mechanism reform and innovation of railway enterprises should be further improved. Fifth, the position and role of railways in the comprehensive transport system should be further enhanced. Sixth, the contribution of railways to serving national strategies and to economic and social development should be further enhanced.
　　On the basis of achieving the above targets, after a period of continued efforts, two-stage targets will also be achieved in 2025 and 2035.
　　Lu Dongfu said that efforts will be made to ensure that by 2025, the railway network scale reaches about 175,000 km, including about 38,000 km of high-speed rail; by 2035, a developed and improved modern railway network will be built first, basically achieving internal and external connectivity, multi-route interregional access, high-speed rail connections among provincial capitals, rapid access to prefecture-level cities, and basic county-level coverage, providing strong transport support for basically realizing socialist modernization, and further making China's railways an important symbol and component of a great modern socialist country.
　　According to Lu Dongfu, the main work targets of China Railway Corporation in 2018 include:
　　No major or above-level responsibility accidents in railway safety;
　　National railways to complete passenger transport volume of 3.25 billion passenger trips, freight transport volume of 3.02 billion tons, and total converted turnover of 3,890 billion ton-kilometers.
　　National railway fixed asset investment is arranged at 732 billion yuan, of which 702 billion yuan is for national railways.
　　Commission 4,000 km of new lines, including 3,500 km of high-speed rail.
　　Comprehensive energy consumption per unit of transport workload to be controlled at 4.57 tons of standard coal per million converted ton-kilometers.
　　The work conference on January 2 also emphasized that railway work in 2018 must thoroughly implement the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the Central Economic Work Conference, adhere to the general work tone of seeking progress while maintaining stability, follow the requirements of high-quality development, focus on "building a strong transport country, with railways taking the lead," deepen "strengthening the foundation and meeting standards, improving quality and increasing efficiency," take reform and innovation as the driving force, strengthen the foundation of quality and safety, deepen supply-side structural reform of railway transport, improve the quality and efficiency of railway construction, advance law-based and market-oriented railway operations, accelerate the building of a modern enterprise system for national railway enterprises, build China's intelligent high-speed rail, expand the achievements of railways going global, continuously improve employees' living standards, strengthen Party building and the fight against corruption, and make new contributions to promoting sustained and healthy economic and social development.