Ministry of Transport: China's transportation development has entered a new stage of development during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, and the keyword is “one network, four modernizations”

Zhitongcaijing · 2d ago

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on July 21, the Information Office of the State Council held a press conference on the theme of the “Getting Started” series at 10 a.m. Vice Minister of Transport Xu Chengguang said that the “15th Five-Year Plan” period is a critical period for basic socialist modernization, consolidating the foundation and making comprehensive efforts, and China's transportation development has entered a new stage of development. To implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, our overall goal is to basically build a modern integrated transportation system. The keyword is “one network, four modernizations.” Among them, One Network is to build a modern, high-quality national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network by improving growth, improving quality and inventory, cultivating the advantages of the facility network, making up for shortcomings in network development. Four modernization means keeping abreast of the requirements of modern transportation development, strengthening integration, strengthening safety upgrading, highlighting digital intelligence upgrades, and focusing on green transformation.

Focusing on the above goals, focus on the following tasks:

In terms of strengthening system integration. The focus is on improving the integrated transportation system in the modern metropolitan area, implementing projects to improve the efficiency of intercity commuting in the metropolitan area, and speeding up the construction of 20 international and 80 national integrated transportation hubs. Implement actions to attack multimodal transportation and break through blockage points, and strive to promote about 1,000 major freight nodes to improve multimodal transport functions over a period of 5 years. In terms of improving the level of safety and resilience. The focus is on improving the diversified and resilient international transportation channel system, implementing road safety and resilience improvement projects, strengthening waterway traffic safety and security capabilities, and enhancing industry safety management capabilities. In terms of strengthening the empowerment of scientific and technological innovation. The focus is on implementing the “Artificial Intelligence+Transportation” campaign to build a digital intelligence traffic corridor. In terms of promoting a green and low-carbon transition. The focus is on speeding up large-scale application of new energy heavy trucks and building zero-carbon highways and waterway transportation channels.

In terms of deepening the reform of institutional mechanisms. The focus is on deepening the reform of the integrated transportation system and speeding up the construction of a unified and open transportation market. In terms of improving transportation for the public, it will plan and implement “micro-transformation” of congestion-prone sections of highways, improve service quality in expressway service areas, speed up the construction of inland waterway water service areas, accelerate the promotion of “mobile +” convenient card-free travel, build quality self-driving tourist roads, and expand the coverage of small minibus rental points. For example, now when people are traveling or traveling with their families, they drive a long distance in their own car, hoping to be able to rent a car near the airport or high-speed rail station. We will expedite the establishment of rental outlets for Xiaowei buses at airports and high-speed rail stations, and implement convenient free or low-cost off-site return services, so that everyone can rent a car to travel by plane or high-speed rail after landing.

Xu Chengguang said that in the next five years, we will steadily advance the implementation of the “15th Five-Year Plan” transportation plan, promote major strategic tasks, major engineering projects, and major policy initiatives in an integrated manner, and carry out all tasks step by step. Looking forward to 2030, decisive progress has been achieved in basically building a strong transportation country. China's modern integrated transportation system will be further improved, and the beautiful vision of “people enjoy their movements and goods flow smoothly” will be realized at an accelerated pace.

The transcript is as follows:

Jia Huili, Deputy Director of the Information Bureau of the Information Office of the State Council and press spokesman:

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the press conference of the Information Office of the State Council. Today, we are continuing to hold a series of press conferences on the theme of “Starting the 15th Five-Year Plan”. We are happy to invite Mr. Xu Chengguang, Vice Minister of Transport; Mr. Cai Tuanjie, Director of Safety and Transport Services; Mr. Wang Qiming, press spokesperson and deputy director of the China Railway Administration; Mr. Han Jun, Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China; and Mr. Chen Kai, Deputy Director of the State Post Office. We ask them to introduce to you the situation and answer everyone's concerns about speeding up the construction of a strong transportation country and improving a modern integrated transportation system.

Now let's ask Mr. Xu Chengguang to give an introduction.

Vice Minister of Transport Xu Chengguang:

Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and friends in the news media world! It's a pleasure to meet all of you here.

First of all, I would like to thank my friends in the media community for their long-term concern and support for transportation work. Today, my colleagues and I will introduce to you the situation relating to the construction of the “15th Five-Year Plan” modern integrated transportation system.

Transportation is the context of the economy and the link of civilization, and a pioneer in Chinese-style modernization. During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping at the core, China achieved new major achievements in the construction of an integrated transportation system.

The integrated three-dimensional transportation network has been improved. Transportation fixed asset investment of 18.8 trillion yuan was completed during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period. This is the largest investment and the fastest network construction in the five years since the founding of New China. The national integrated three-dimensional transportation network has a mileage of more than 6 million kilometers, and the construction rate of the main framework of “6 axes, 7 corridors and 8 channels” has reached 91%. China's integrated transportation infrastructure has steadily ranked first in the world, including high-speed rail operating mileage exceeding 50,000 kilometers, highway traffic mileage reaching 199,000 kilometers, port berths reaching 3,061 10,000 tons or above, and a total of 270 transport airports. It has built the largest delivery network in the world with the largest number of beneficiaries. It can be said that China has built the largest integrated transportation infrastructure system with the most balanced coverage in human history, and China's high-speed rail, China's bridges, and China's ports have become globally recognized as beautiful business cards.

Transportation services are more convenient and cost-effective. High-speed rail passenger traffic increased by 132% in 5 years, and passenger traffic by civil aviation increased by 84.2% in 5 years. Both shipping volume and port container throughput account for 1/3 of the world, and express delivery business has ranked first in the world for 12 consecutive years. In 2025, an average of 180 million people traveled across regions every day, 100 million people used buses to shuttle streets, 100 million people took taxis online car-hailing, and 100 million people commute efficiently by rail transit. Strong transportation service capabilities have become the core foundation for unlocking China's huge market size, a core hub for stabilizing China's global supply chain, and an industrial foundation supporting manufacturing and trade powers.

National strategies for safeguarding and improving people's livelihood and serving the country are stronger. To serve the comprehensive revitalization of the countryside, over 770,000 kilometers of rural highways were newly remodeled in 5 years, and the total mileage reached 4.7 million kilometers. All towns and formed villages that met the conditions were accessible to buses. The integration of passenger, cargo and mail in rural areas has deepened, and the construction of a three-level delivery logistics system between counties and villages has been accelerated. Major cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and Chengdu-Chongqing Economic Zone have achieved 2-hour access.

Overall, after 5 years of rapid development, China's comprehensive transportation strength has reached a new level, speeding up the construction of a strong transportation country and achieving a good start.

Xu Chengguang:

The “15th Five-Year Plan” period is a critical period for basically achieving socialist modernization, consolidating the foundation and making comprehensive efforts. China's transportation development has entered a new stage of development. To implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, our overall goal is to basically build a modern integrated transportation system. The keyword is “one network, four modernizations.” Among them, One Network is to build a modern, high-quality national comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network by improving growth, improving quality and inventory, cultivating the advantages of the facility network, making up for shortcomings in network development. Four modernization means keeping abreast of the requirements of modern transportation development, strengthening integration, strengthening safety upgrading, highlighting digital intelligence upgrades, and focusing on green transformation. Focusing on the above goals, focus on the following tasks:

In terms of improving the infrastructure layout. The focus is on promoting the construction of major cross-regional and cross-watershed corridors, increasing the construction rate of the main framework of the country's comprehensive three-dimensional transportation network to 95%, continuing to improve infrastructure networks such as railways, highways, water transportation, civil aviation, postal express delivery, etc., and speeding up the construction of logistics networks. By 2030, the breadth of transportation infrastructure networks, the depth of coverage, and the level of international connectivity will be further enhanced. Fast networks, trunk networks, and basic networks will achieve complementary functions and efficient connections. China's integrated transportation infrastructure system will continue to maintain the leading global level. In terms of optimizing transportation structures. The focus is on promoting transportation infrastructure renewal and digital intelligence transformation, and implementing about 80,000 kilometers of facility renovation by 2030. Implement a new round of rural highway upgrading actions, and rebuild 500,000 kilometers of rural highways. In terms of strengthening system integration. The focus is on improving the integrated transportation system in the modern metropolitan area, implementing projects to improve the efficiency of intercity commuting in the metropolitan area, and speeding up the construction of 20 international and 80 national integrated transportation hubs. Implement actions to attack multimodal transportation and break through blockage points, and strive to promote about 1,000 major freight nodes to improve multimodal transport functions over a period of 5 years. In terms of improving the level of safety and resilience. The focus is on improving the diversified and resilient international transportation channel system, implementing road safety and resilience improvement projects, strengthening waterway traffic safety and security capabilities, and enhancing industry safety management capabilities. In terms of strengthening the empowerment of scientific and technological innovation. The focus is on implementing the “Artificial Intelligence+Transportation” campaign to build a digital intelligence traffic corridor. In terms of promoting a green and low-carbon transition. The focus is on speeding up large-scale application of new energy heavy trucks and building zero-carbon highways and waterway transportation channels. In terms of deepening the reform of institutional mechanisms. The focus is on deepening the reform of the integrated transportation system and speeding up the construction of a unified and open transportation market. In terms of improving transportation for the public, it will plan and implement “micro-transformation” of congestion-prone sections of highways, improve service quality in expressway service areas, speed up the construction of inland waterway water service areas, accelerate the promotion of “mobile +” convenient card-free travel, build quality self-driving tourist roads, and expand the coverage of small minibus rental points. For example, now when people are traveling or traveling with their families, they drive a long distance in their own car, hoping to be able to rent a car near the airport or high-speed rail station. We will expedite the establishment of rental outlets for Xiaowei buses at airports and high-speed rail stations, and implement convenient free or low-cost off-site return services, so that everyone can rent a car to travel by plane or high-speed rail after landing.

Over the next five years, we will steadily push forward the implementation of the “15th Five-Year Plan” transportation plan, promote major strategic tasks, major engineering projects, and major policy initiatives in an integrated manner, and carry out all tasks step by step. Looking forward to 2030, decisive progress has been achieved in basically building a strong transportation country. China's modern integrated transportation system will be further improved, and the beautiful vision of “people enjoy their movements and goods flow smoothly” will be realized at an accelerated pace.

Let me introduce that much first. Next, my colleagues and I will be happy to answer your questions. Thank you!

Jia Huili:

Thanks to Vice Minister Xu Chengguang for his introduction. Please ask your questions now. Please inform your news agency before asking questions.

CCTV reporter at the general station:

Vice Minister Xu also mentioned earlier that at present, the construction rate of the main framework of China's national integrated three-dimensional transportation network has reached 91%. How will subsequent construction be promoted during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period? Thank you.

Xu Chengguang:

Thank you for your question. Everyone probably has a feeling that the construction rate of the main framework of our country's integrated three-dimensional transportation network has reached 91%, and the total mileage of the integrated transportation infrastructure network has exceeded 6 million kilometers. Our scale has indeed increased. During the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, do we still need to promote construction on a large scale? While we have seen achievements, there are still shortcomings and weaknesses in terms of penetrability of strategic backbone channels, ability to integrate and collaborate, efficiency of cross-regional circulation, and ability to link international and domestic markets.

During the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, we continued to promote the construction of major cross-regional and cross-watershed corridors. Instead of simply “paving the way” and “upgrading the project” in the past, we optimized the spatial layout, opened up major arteries in the economic cycle, and promoted balanced regional development. Our goal is to increase the construction rate of the main framework of the national integrated three-dimensional transportation network from 91% to 95% by 2030. The focus is on improving the construction of four types of channels:

The first is a major coastal and riverside corridor. Mainly to build a coastal high-speed railway, promote the completion and upgrading of national highways along the border, and fully penetrate the G219, G331 land strategic backbone corridors and coastal G228 backbone corridors. These three channels will form a large outer ring that runs through our country's coastal coast, creating a “golden outer ring” for our great motherland. This large outer ring will be our country's major channel along the coast. It is also an important tourist channel, resource development channel, and stable border securing channel. On the riverside side, the focus is on speeding up the construction of the Yangtze River Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Corridor, fully constructing a high-standard riverside high-speed railway, and implementing a number of major projects such as the Three Gorges Water Transport Corridor. The new Three Gorges Water Transport Corridor, which everyone is very concerned about, began construction on June 8 of this year. After the completion of the new channel, the total transit capacity of the Three Gorges Hub will reach 336 million tons, which is more than three times the current design capacity.

The second is the exit and entry channel into Tibet. Focusing on the stability of the frontier and the prosperity of the people, efforts are being made to resolve the shortcomings of poor channel resilience and insufficient ability to maintain traffic, promote the construction of the Ya'an to Linzhi section of the Sichuan-Tibet Railway to a high standard, build the east and west section projects of the Xinzang Railway, and accelerate the construction of a “one axis, two wings and multiple connections” of the Xinjiang coal export channel.

The third is a new land and sea corridor in the west. The main focus is on forming an open pattern of “land, domestic and foreign linkage, east-west mutual aid”, speeding up the completion of the main channel, enhancing the hub function of the Beibu Gulf International Gateway Port, and promoting the official opening and trial operation of the Pinglu Canal in September of this year.

The fourth is a cross-river, cross-sea, and cross-bay channel. The focus is on implementing the Shanghai-Ningbo Cross-Sea Corridor, which is a number of major projects, such as the cross-sea corridor from Shanghai to Ningbo and the Lion Ocean Corridor in Guangdong, to strengthen links across the Yangtze River, Pearl River, and Hangzhou Bay, and support the implementation of the country's major regional development strategies.

In the process of promoting the construction of major cross-regional and cross-watershed corridors, we will also focus on improving the level of three areas.

The first is to enhance the city's function as an integrated transportation hub. Accelerate the construction of 20 international and 80 national integrated transportation hubs, raise the concentration radiation level of hub cities through hierarchical classification, and focus on improving cross-modal connection and conversion efficiency and integrated service capabilities.

The second is to promote transportation infrastructure renewal and digital intelligence transformation. Implement about 80,000 kilometers of transportation infrastructure renewal and digital intelligence transformation, so that investment in renovation will account for about 50% of transportation fixed asset investment by 2030. We will strive to promote the functional improvement, efficiency improvement, resilience enhancement, green and low carbon of existing facilities with less investment in capital, land, etc., to achieve the goal of “one update and all-round upgrade”.

The third is to improve a diversified and resilient international channel system. Improve the global international shipping trunk network, strengthen connectivity with major global air cargo hubs, optimize and improve key overseas hubs such as overseas ports, and enhance the level of safety and resilience of China's international logistics supply chain.

Thank you for your questions, I have answered so many of them.

Jiefang Daily Shangguan News Reporter:

Railways are the “main artery” of the national economy, and the scale of China's railway network has continued to expand in recent years. How will China further promote the quality and efficiency of railway network construction during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period? Thank you.

Xu Chengguang:

Thank you for your question. I asked Comrade Wang Qiming of the China National Railway Administration to answer this question.

Wang Qiming, press spokesperson and deputy director of the China Railway Administration:

Thank you for your question. As you said, China has now built the world's largest high-speed railway network and an advanced general speed railway network. As the main framework of a modern integrated transportation system, China's well-connected railway network has effectively cleared the context of high-quality economic and social development, carrying the expectations of hundreds of millions of people for beautiful travel.

During the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, China's railways will take basic modernization as the overall goal, adhere to moderately advance ahead of schedule, not excessively advance, highlight safety improvements, coordinated layout, digital intelligence upgrading, green transformation, integrated development, and systematic management, and make every effort to promote the construction of a number of major projects. Accelerate the completion of road network shortcomings, break through bottlenecks, smooth the network cycle, speed up the construction of a modern railway network with extensive coverage, reasonable structure, complete functions, and efficient integration, and move from “basic adaptation” to a new stage of “improving quality and efficiency”. Serve the country's coordinated regional development strategy, major regional strategies, new urbanization strategies, and rural revitalization, inject strong impetus into the Chinese-style modernization drive and provide key support.

Since this year, China's railways have focused on “networking, network repair, and strong chains” to promote the construction of major projects with high quality. Projects such as the Xi'an to Shiyan high-speed railway have been launched one after another, and substantial progress has been made in the construction of key projects such as the Harbin-Yichun high-speed railway and the Xiongan-Shangqiu high-speed railway. In the first half of this year, railway fixed asset investment remained high, with a total investment of 363.2 billion yuan, an increase of 2.1% over the previous year, which played an important role in expanding domestic demand and steady growth. In the next step, China's railway network construction will focus on three aspects.

The first is to clear channels and strengthen the construction of strategic backbone channels. Strengthen the layout of coastal corridors along rivers, promote the construction of cross-regional strategic corridors, strengthen the construction of cross-river cross-sea and cross-bay corridors, improve a diversified and resilient cross-border railway channel system, and continuously improve railway strategic support and guarantee capabilities.

The second is an excellent structure to enhance the structural function of the railway network. Accelerate the completion of the “eight vertical and eight horizontal” high-speed rail main corridors, promote the construction of high-speed rail links in key regions in an orderly manner, and enhance commuting capacity in key urban agglomerations. Fill up the “gaps” in the western road network, strengthen the construction of energy and food transportation channels, speed up the elimination of transportation bottlenecks on busy main routes, and promote the improvement of freight network capacity.

The third is to strengthen nodes and improve the railway hub system. Accelerate the construction of unblocked engineering facilities at key railway hubs such as Beijing, and continuously improve the resilience and flexibility of the hubs. Optimize the layout of hub station facilities, improve the collection and evacuation system, and accelerate the development of network integration, cross-modal integration, and station city integration.

Thanks, that's all I've answered.

Daily Economic News Reporter:

We have learned that the ratio of total logistics costs to GDP for the whole society has been reduced from 14.7% in 2022 to 13.9% last year. How will logistics costs be further reduced during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period? Thank you.

Xu Chengguang:

Thank you for your question. I ask Comrade Cai Tuanjie to answer this question.

Tsai Tuanjie, Director of Safety and Director of Transport Services of the Ministry of Transport:

Thank you for your question, your question is really important. The ratio of total logistics costs to GDP for the whole society comprehensively reflects a country's total logistics costs and logistics operation efficiency, and also affects the competitiveness of the country's industry to a certain extent. Logistics is linked to production and consumption, domestic trade, and foreign trade, and is the “backbone” of the real economy.

During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, we stepped up efforts to improve transportation networks, adjust transportation structures, develop multimodal transport, and promote digital transformation, and achieved positive results. In 2025, the transportation sector drove the reduction of logistics costs, which strongly drove the ratio of total social logistics costs to GDP to 13.9%. Among them, the transportation sector drove a reduction of logistics costs by about 70%. This figure of 13.9% should be the best level of this indicator in China since statistics were available. However, there are still some gaps compared to developed countries, and we need to continue to work hard and work for a long time.

During the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, we will focus on further strengthening our efforts in five areas:

The first is to accelerate the construction of logistics networks. The logistics network is one of the “six networks” recently launched in our country. According to the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, the focus is on building a modern logistics network, promoting the improvement of the construction of key logistics channels, deepening the interconnection of important hub nodes, complementing the shortcomings of urban and rural logistics facilities, and strengthening the layout of international logistics facilities.

The second is to implement a new round of actions to repair and strengthen the national integrated freight hub chain. During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, we supported 37 cities in three batches to strengthen their chains, promoting multi-modal transport at key freight hubs with a 1-hour replacement rate of over 85%, and railway entry rates in important port areas of coastal ports reached 71.6%. During the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, we will spend about 3 years concentrating our efforts on supporting about 30 more cities, coordinating “hard investment” and “soft construction”, promoting “hard connectivity” of facilities and equipment and “soft connectivity” for standard rules and services, further improving multimodal transport functions, cross-modal conversion efficiency, organizational model innovation efficiency, and the overall benefits of integrated transportation networks, and enhancing the ability to guarantee transportation services for important strategic materials and key industrial products. This year we have confirmed the initial list of 10 supporting cities.

The third is to carry out multimodal transport attacks and actions to break through blockages. We will focus on major ports, key inland ports, large-scale logistics parks, large-scale industrial parks, China-Europe (Asia) train assembly centers, etc., and build about 1,000 multimodal transport nodes to break through blockages and enhance multimodal transport functions. In this process, we will also promote the quality and expansion of the “one single system” and “one box system”. The first batch will focus on upgrading about 300 major freight nodes, and focus on improving the 1-hour replacement rate for multimodal transportation.

Fourth, promote the digital intelligence and empowerment of transportation and logistics. Explore major innovative projects such as intelligent truck driving in typical scenarios, standardize the business activities of online freight transport platforms, and plan and launch pilot applications of unmanned express delivery vehicles.

The fifth is to cultivate leading transportation and logistics enterprises. Accelerate the cultivation of a number of leading cross-modal, integrated and specialized transportation and logistics integrators, and strive to cultivate about 100 integrated logistics integrators by 2030 to better enhance the service guarantee capabilities of China's industrial chain supply chain.

Thank you.

Macau Monthly Reporter:

This year marks the beginning of the “15th Five-Year Plan”. What is the civil aviation department's overall consideration of the “15th Five-Year Plan” development? Also, can you introduce the overall situation of production and operation in the civil aviation industry since this year? Thank you.

Xu Chengguang:

Thank you for your question. Your question is about civil aviation, so I will ask Comrade Han Jun of the Civil Aviation Administration to answer it.

Han Jun, Deputy Director of the Civil Aviation Administration of China:

Thank you to this reporter for the question. The Civil Aviation Administration adheres to planning and leadership. During the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, it will focus on improving the construction of modern integrated transportation systems, anchoring the strategic goal of first-class civil aviation construction, adhering to the development direction of intelligent, green and integrated development, taking safety development as the bottom line, improving quality and efficiency as the main line, taking reform and innovation as the fundamental driving force, promoting the construction of a unified domestic market and a high level of international openness to the outside world. In an integrated manner, it will promote autonomous civil aviation innovation and industrial integration and development to ensure the safe, convenient, efficient, green and economical modern civil aviation system construction in the “15th” five” Decisive progress has been made during this period.

This year marks the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan. In the first half of this year, in a situation where external unfavorable factors exceeded expectations, the entire civil aviation industry coordinated development and safety, actively responded to various risks and challenges, and achieved a good start in promoting the “15th Five-Year Plan” development. First, transportation production remains resilient. The first quarter started well. The three major indicators of total transportation turnover, passenger traffic, and cargo and mail traffic increased by 10.9%, 6.5%, and 9.3%, respectively. The second quarter was affected by high international oil prices, and the operating costs of the entire industry increased dramatically. The Civil Aviation Administration actively took measures to ensure the steady development of the industry. In the first half of the year, the entire industry completed a total transportation turnover of 83.37 billion tonkilometers, passenger traffic of 380 million people, and cargo and mail traffic of 5.073 million tons, up 6.4%, 1.0% and 6.0% year-on-year respectively, maintaining positive growth. Second, the international aviation network is expanding at an accelerated pace. Civil aviation gave full play to its comparative advantages, and the international passenger and cargo markets all achieved relatively rapid growth. In the first half of the year, international routes carried more than 40 million passengers, an increase of 5.7% over the previous year; completed cargo and mail traffic volume of 2.32 million tons, an increase of 13.9% over the previous year. China's airlines have more than 1,000 regular routes, and international passenger routes reach 177 cities in 80 countries on five continents. The Sky Silk Road is getting denser and denser, covering 125 cities in 60 countries that have jointly built the “Belt and Road”, which strongly supports China's overall diplomatic and foreign trade situation and the travel needs of international personnel. Third, quality and efficiency have been steadily improving. The full-service passenger occupancy rate and load rate of the entire industry were 85.7% and 74.0% respectively, up 1.6 and 1.4 percentage points, respectively; the close-seat bridge rate at 10-million-class airports reached 87.5%, providing travelers with a more convenient travel experience; the carbon emission intensity of transport aircraft fleets and airports decreased by 4.5% and 12.4%, respectively, and the results of the industry's green and low-carbon transformation continued to show results.

In the second half of the year, we will better coordinate high-quality development and a high level of safety, adhere to the main development line of improving quality and efficiency, give full play to the comparative advantages of civil aviation, continuously improve operational efficiency and service quality, ensure that the growth rate remains within a reasonable range throughout the year, and ensure a good start to the “15th Five-Year Plan” of civil aviation.

Thank you.

Upstream News Reporter:

We are concerned that the outline of the “15th Five-Year Plan” is proposed to improve the national postal express delivery hub. How will the postal administration implement this arrangement to better smooth the economic cycle? Thank you.

Xu Chengguang:

Thank you for your questions. For questions about the postal service, please ask Comrade Chen Kai from the Post Office to answer them.

Chen Kai, Deputy Director of the State Post Office:

Thanks to this reporter and friend for their interest in the important infrastructure of the postal industry, I will introduce the relevant situation below. The national postal express hub is an important infrastructure for unblocking the economic cycle and connecting the country's unified market. In particular, it leads the development of modern logistics. It plays a very important role in providing services to guarantee the modern economic system. In 2021, the Party Central Committee and the State Council issued the “National Comprehensive Three-dimensional Transportation Network Plan Outline”, which proposes to improve infrastructure networks such as postal express delivery, and proposes to build around 80 national postal express hubs by 2035. In 2024, nine departments including the State Post Office also issued “Guiding Opinions on the Layout and Construction of National Postal Express Hubs”. This year, the national “15th Five-Year Plan” clearly proposes “improving the national postal express hub.” The State Post Office attaches great importance to this and promotes it in an integrated manner. It will fully implement the country's major strategic decisions and arrangements. In particular, we will link relevant departments to actively participate, promote the quality and efficiency of hub construction in all aspects, and further develop the distributed radiation driving role of the hub. It mainly considers five work dimensions: one is excellent layout; the second is clustering; the third is strong capacity; the fourth is promoting connectivity; and the fifth is the joint industry.

First, an excellent layout. The implementation of major national strategies, regional economic development, industrial structure optimization and upgrading, logistics network construction, etc. are taken into account in an integrated manner, and the layout of the hub carrying the city is continuously optimized, so that the layout of the hub is more reasonable, the coverage is more uniform, and the functions are closer to development needs.

Second, form a cluster. Raise the level of international connectivity between hubs, and basically build clusters of international postal express hubs in Beijing, Tianjin, Xiong'an, Langfang, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Jiaxing, Wuhan, Ezhou, Zhengzhou, Changsha, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Haikou, and Chengdu, Chongqing, Xian, to support regional international postal express hubs to enhance their opening functions in specific directions.

Third, strong ability. Support delivery companies to centrally develop into national postal express hubs, build transit centers, sorting centers, public cloud warehouses, and cold chain facilities, and actively build multimodal transportation centers and supply chain centers. Promote the renewal of hub facilities and digital intelligence transformation to improve the efficiency of hub operation.

Fourth, promote connectivity. Deeply integrate into modern logistics systems, promote the integration of national postal express hubs with national logistics hubs and integrated freight hubs, and promote the opening of functional areas such as storage and storage hubs to the postal industry.

Finally, co-industry. Build a national postal express hub economic zone, attract the agglomeration of upstream and downstream industries such as advanced manufacturing, trade circulation, warehousing and logistics, fresh cold chain, etc., promote the joint improvement of the development level of the industrial chain supply chain, and achieve a strong industrial hub with a hub.

I'll just introduce these, thank you.

China Financial News Reporter:

Nowadays, whether it is mass travel or cargo transportation, people are demanding more and more abundant railway services. How will the capacity and quality of railway passenger and cargo transportation be further enhanced during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period? Thank you.

Xu Chengguang:

Thank you for your question. I asked Comrade Wang Qiming of the China National Railway Administration to answer this question.

Wang Qiming:

Thank you for your question. As an important national infrastructure and a popular means of transportation, railway transportation is linked to the national economy and people's livelihood, serves hundreds of millions of people, and is an important guarantee for achieving common prosperity. During the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, the railway department will earnestly implement the people-centered idea of development, closely focus on the goal of “people enjoy their movements and smooth flow of goods”, optimize transportation supply, improve service quality, and continuously enhance railway passenger and cargo transportation service capabilities.

In terms of “people enjoy their travel”, railways will continue to improve the fluidity, convenience and comfort of transportation services. Expand the range of operation of the Fuxing EMU and high-speed rail moving and horizontal lines. Maintain public welfare “slow trains” in remote mountainous areas such as the southwest and northeast, and drive “rich buses” and “buses” for people to gather to do business and study, and ensure that modern railway transportation services are widely covered and more convenient. In response to the needs of different groups such as business, tourism, students, the elderly, workers, etc., customized trains are operated, special passenger trains are developed, flexible ticket systems such as counter tickets, commuter passes, and intermodal tickets are promoted, and mutual recognition of railway and urban rail transit security checks at eligible bus stations is promoted, so that travelers can travel more conveniently and comfortably. Continue to improve system standards, guarantee basic travel services for the masses, increase travel concerns and care for key groups such as “the elderly, the sick, and the disabled”, and implement preferential railway travel policies for groups such as military personnel, fire rescuers, and heroic survivors in accordance with the law and regulations.

In terms of achieving “smooth flow of goods,” railways will accelerate the transformation and upgrading of freight logistics. Continue to deepen the reform of the railway freight market, support railway enterprise systems to reshape the logistics organizational structure, and build a modern logistics system. Actively develop professional transportation and expand the scale of medium- and long-distance railway transportation of dangerous goods. Promote the safe transportation of lithium battery products by rail and help the high-quality development of the new energy industry. Promote “public transit by rail” for medium- and long-distance transportation of bulk goods and containers, increase the proportion of rail transportation for bulk goods, and reduce logistics costs for the whole society. Strengthen the development of multimodal transport and speed up the entry of special railway lines into port areas, parks, and factories. Strengthen standard connections and information sharing between railways and other modes of transportation. Give full play to the advantages of iron and water intermodal transport, raise the level of infrastructure connectivity, improve the standard system of iron and water intermodal transport rules and standards, and promote the expansion and quality of “one single system” and “one box system” multimodal transport services.

I'll just talk about that, thank you.

Guangdong Radio and Television Guangdong TV Reporter:

This year, we noticed a surge in sales of new energy heavy trucks. The cumulative sales volume for the first half of 2026 was about 140,000 units, an increase of 78.6% over the previous year. What measures will the Ministry of Transport take to promote large-scale application of new energy heavy trucks? Thank you.

Xu Chengguang:

Thank you, you are very sensitive. I ask Comrade Cai Tuanjie, Director of Safety, to answer this question.

Tsai is united:

Thank you, Vice Minister Cheng Guang, and thank this reporter for the questions. Indeed, as you said, our NEV heavy truck sales have surged in the past two years. As you mentioned earlier, the increase was close to 80% in the first half of this year. The growth rate has been huge in recent years. The overall growth reached 182% last year. This is explosive growth driven by both policy and market. We judge that at present, new energy heavy trucks have entered a new stage of rapid popularization, promotion and application.

It should be said that promoting large-scale application of new energy heavy trucks can be achieved in one fell swoop. It can not only promote the optimization of the industrial structure, that is, the NEV industry, but also optimize the energy structure. Currently, electricity is used. In the past, diesel is also used, and the transportation structure can also be optimized. At the same time, it is also a powerful measure to reduce logistics costs and promote the high-quality development of the road freight industry. Therefore, we must follow the trend, take the initiative, and step up efforts to promote the application of new energy heavy trucks on a large scale.

The Ministry of Transport attached great importance to it and took a series of measures with relevant departments. In May of this year, the Ministry of Transport, together with the National Development and Reform Commission and eleven other departments, jointly issued the “Implementation Plan for Promoting Large-scale Application of New Energy Heavy Trucks”. This “Implementation Plan” comparison system has been made public, with the core goal of achieving a carbon peak in the transportation sector by 2030. It is proposed that the penetration rate of new energy heavy trucks reach 40% and the number of new energy heavy trucks will exceed 1.6 million vehicles by 2030. Of course, depending on the current development situation, this goal may be exceeded, but we must do our best to achieve it better. In the next step, we will focus on the following four areas of work:

The first is to improve and improve the energy supplementation network. 30,000 kilometers of zero-carbon road transport corridors will be built around the “5 shots, 4 vertical and 5 horizontal” key sections of the national highway network.

The second is to solve the shortcomings of insufficient facilities. Focus on busy freight sections of national highways, ordinary national and provincial highways, urban agglomeration metropolitan areas such as the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, and Cheng-Chongqing regions, and important nodes such as freight hubs, ports, mining areas, factories, parks, etc., to build more than 3,000 electric heavy truck charging and switching stations to promote “connecting to a network” of energy supplementation facilities.

The third is to increase policy support. In 2026, the scrapping and renewal campaign for old operating trucks will continue to be implemented, and an ultra-long-term special treasury bond of 22 billion yuan will be arranged to support the scrapping and renewal of old operating trucks, focusing on supporting the upgrading to new energy heavy trucks, and striving to increase consumption in the NEV heavy truck market through the “two new” policies. On the basis of market growth, we are further strengthening through policies.

Fourth, promote full-scene applications. On the basis of expanding the scale of use of new energy heavy trucks in short- and medium-haul transportation scenarios and speeding up the application of new energy alternatives to transit vehicles at major freight nodes, we will promote key transportation enterprises such as large-scale transportation companies, express delivery and logistics companies, and large-scale freight fleets to take the lead in adopting new energy heavy trucks in mainline road transportation.

During the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, we will focus on promoting low-carbon replacement of transportation power, promoting the greening transformation of transportation infrastructure, speeding up the optimization and adjustment of transportation structures, continuing to further promote pollution prevention and control, improving the transportation carbon emission statistical accounting and monitoring system, and more vigorously promoting the green and low-carbon transformation in the transportation sector, laying a solid foundation for the construction of a strong transportation country and a beautiful China.

Thank you.

Pengpai News Reporter:

We know that the postal industry is an important chapter in speeding up the construction of a strong transportation nation. What will be the main goal of the development of China's postal industry during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, and what are the key tasks? Thank you.

Xu Chengguang:

Thank you for your question. Indeed, postal express delivery is now closely related to the production and life of each of us, so I asked Comrade Chen Kai of the State Post Office to answer this question.

Chen Kai:

Thank you to this journalist friend for your interest in the postal industry. As Minister Xu said, the postal industry is an important chapter in speeding up the construction of a strong transportation nation. At the same time, the postal industry is also an important national social utility. It is an iconic industry of modern logistics. The industry serves a wide range of production and consumption, online and offline, cities and villages, and depends on development needs and people's livelihood. Express delivery services, in particular, have become the “lifeblood” of urban circulation. They are closely related to the lives of ordinary people. They are everywhere, no one needs them, and they arrive all the time. During the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, the development of the postal industry can use “123” to explain our development goals, namely “1 step forward,” “2 continuous,” and “3 more.”

By 2030, the role of the postal industry in serving economic and social development will be further strengthened. The scale and strength of the postal industry continues to grow, and the international brand influence of delivery companies has further increased. The supply of services continues to expand and improve the quality of energy, the regional gap between urban and rural services has narrowed, and people's satisfaction with mail has steadily increased. At the same time, judging from the network system, it will be more intensive and intelligent, the ability of national postal express hubs to gather radiation will be enhanced, main line transportation will be smooth and efficient, terminal facilities will be widely covered, and the depth and breadth of the international delivery logistics network, including safety and resilience, will be clearly improved. Innovation and development are more vigorous, and the level of digital intelligence in the entire delivery process has been significantly improved. Industry governance has become more accurate and efficient, the supervision system has been continuously improved, and the level of legalization, intelligence, and coordination of supervision has been significantly improved. In particular, the results of safe and green development of the industry are obvious.

In order to achieve the “15th Five-Year Plan” postal industry development goals, focus on “two promotions” and “three upgrades” to promote the completion of various tasks.

In terms of promoting high-quality development of the industry. Optimize the supply of general postal services and special services to improve the quality and efficiency of express delivery services; actively develop smart postal services, enhance the value of industry data, and develop low-altitude delivery logistics; accelerate the construction of modern delivery logistics networks, improve national postal express delivery hubs, enhance integrated mail delivery capacity, and strengthen terminal service facilities; promote the coordinated development of the regional postal industry, serve the construction of urban agglomerations, and narrow the regional development gap; promote green and low-carbon development, deepen the green transformation of express mail packaging and promote energy saving and carbon reduction in the industry.

In terms of promoting efficient governance in the industry. Enhance industry governance capabilities, improve the regulatory policy system, promote comprehensive and deepening reforms, strengthen service quality management, improve the effectiveness of industry supervision, strengthen service management for courier groups; deepen safe delivery construction, comprehensively strengthen delivery safety, production safety and information security, improve the industry emergency system; improve the education and technology talent support system, optimize the industry's scientific and technological innovation ecosystem, and accelerate the construction of a talent team.

In terms of improving the level of rural delivery service capabilities. Deepen the construction of rural delivery and logistics systems, make up for shortcomings in rural delivery infrastructure, promote express delivery into villages in multiple ways; adhere to the public service attributes and legal responsibilities of universal postal services; and improve general postal services in rural areas.

In terms of improving the level of international delivery service capabilities. Strengthen the construction of an international delivery logistics system, build a “Belt and Road” three-dimensional interconnection logistics network to strongly support the development of foreign trade and a high level of openness; strengthen international exchanges and cooperation in industry management, strategic planning, policies and regulations, technical standards, etc., and participate deeply in global postal governance.

In terms of improving the level of capacity in the service industry. It will further expand the express delivery service scenario, better serve modern agriculture, serve the manufacturing industry more widely, promote the deep integration of delivery services with the real economy, and enable high-quality industrial development.

I'll just talk about that, thank you.

Jia Huili:

Time is a matter of time, the last two questions.

China News Agency Reporter:

Promoting the healthy and orderly development of international air cargo is a clear task requirement for civil aviation set out in the “Outline” of the country's “15th Five-Year Plan”. What measures will the Civil Aviation Administration take to promote the development of international air cargo and open up services to the outside world at a high level? Thank you.

Xu Chengguang:

Thank you for your question and ask Comrade Han Jun from the Civil Aviation Administration of China to answer your questions.

Han Jun:

Thank you for your question. Indeed, developing international air cargo was a very important task during the “15th Five-Year Plan” period for civil aviation. International air freight is an important support for the transformation and upgrading of the service industry chain supply chain and opening up a high level of service to the outside world. In particular, it is an important support for achieving the “Global 123 Express Logistics Circle” of a transportation powerhouse. During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, China's international air cargo development achieved relatively obvious results. It has several characteristics:

First, the scale of transportation is growing steadily. In 2025, the entire civil aviation industry completed cargo and mail traffic exceeding 10 million tons for the first time, and 4.4 million tons of international routes. During the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the average annual growth rates were 8.5% and 14.6%, respectively.

Second, the ability to guarantee has been significantly enhanced. The security capacity of the comprehensive cargo hub continues to improve. China's first professional cargo airport, Ezhou Huahu Airport, was built and put into operation, and large-scale growth has been achieved. In 2025, six domestic airports, including Shanghai Pudong, Guangzhou Baiyun, Shenzhen Bao'an, Beijing Capital, Ezhou Huahu, and Zhengzhou Xinzheng, were among the top 30 global cargo airports.

Third, the international freight network continues to expand. At present, China's international route network has reached 263 cities in 90 countries around the world, including all cargo flights to 162 cities in 70 countries.

Fourth, market players continue to grow. By 2025, the number of cargo airlines in the industry will reach 13, and the market operators will be more diverse.

Fifth, autonomous and controllable capabilities have improved markedly. In 2025, domestic airlines accounted for 44% of China's international air cargo market, an increase of 10 percentage points over 2020.

During the “15th Five-Year Plan” period, the Civil Aviation Administration will earnestly implement the “Outline” deployment of the national “15th Five-Year Plan”, actively build an air cargo system with smooth access, diversified, resilient, safe and reliable, enhance specialized and intensive service capabilities, and promote the healthy and orderly development of international air cargo. Focus on promoting the following five tasks:

The first is to clear the international cargo channel system, improve the transportation efficiency and multi-link guarantee level of traditional markets, strengthen ties with cargo hubs in emerging markets, build an international shipping route network that combines the abdominal capacity of all freighters and airliners, places equal emphasis on traditional markets and emerging markets, and focus on improving the global coverage capacity of air cargo.

The second is to enhance the cargo function of aviation hubs. In particular, focus on improving the international shipping service capabilities of international aviation hubs such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Chengdu, enhance the functions of professional cargo hubs such as Ezhou, and support the major foreign trade provinces to rely on hub airports to enhance international air cargo capacity.

The third is to improve the adaptability of airport cargo facilities, support the improvement of basic cargo support capabilities in hub airport renovation and expansion projects, strengthen the efficient connection between cargo terminals, aprons, and collection and evacuation systems, improve the utilization efficiency and operation support capabilities of facilities, and enhance service capabilities for goods such as cross-border e-commerce and high-end mechanical and electrical products.

Fourth, cultivate diversified air cargo enterprises, support China's cargo airlines to grow bigger and stronger, and transform into integrated logistics integrators.

The fifth is to promote cost reduction, quality and efficiency in aviation logistics, build a comprehensive aviation logistics information service platform, comprehensively promote the “single system” of electronic waybills and cargo transportation, improve the replacement efficiency of air and air transit and multimodal transport at hub airports, accelerate the digital operation of aviation logistics, and effectively meet the needs of cross-border and time-efficient logistics.

I'll just introduce these, thank you.

Jia Huili:

One last question.

Lightning News Reporter:

Many office workers who commute across cities are very concerned about the market and convenience of commuting. The “Outline” of the “15th Five-Year Plan” proposes “improving the efficiency of intercity commuting in the metropolitan area”. What aspects will we start from to better meet the intercity commuting needs of the masses? Thank you.

Xu Chengguang:

Thank you for your question. In addition to the issues mentioned in the question about our long commute time to work in the metropolitan area, the connections between various modes of transportation, inconvenient transfers, unbalanced parking supply and demand, and congestion in core areas are also the issues that everyone has felt most directly and the most prominent social response. Therefore, improving commuting efficiency in the metropolitan area is not only about people's livelihood, but also about promoting coordinated regional development, as well as unlocking the domestic demand potential of China's hyperscale market.

The “Outline” of the national “15th Five-Year Plan” lists “improving the efficiency of intercity commuting in the metropolitan area” as one of the 109 major projects in China. In May of this year, the Ministry of Transport, together with the National Development and Reform Commission and other relevant departments, jointly issued the “Metropolitan Area Intercity Commute Efficiency Improvement Project Implementation Plan (2026-2030)”. Through these five years of hard work, by 2030, the formation of integrated intercity commuting corridors in the metropolitan area will be accelerated, transportation hubs will be more convenient, and the coverage rate of people in major metropolitan areas who can commute for 1 hour will reach 75%. People's satisfaction with commuting will increase markedly, and their sense of happiness and attainment will be further strengthened. This is our work goal.

In terms of work initiatives, I have summed it up into four key words, namely “four modernization”, speeding up, convenience, homogenization, and intelligence.

Speeding up means speeding up commuting corridors. The national “15th Five-Year Plan” “Outline” proposes to open up intercity unpenetrated road sections and bottleneck road sections. The focus is on promoting organic connections between external communication, intercity traffic, and urban traffic in the metropolitan area, and improving the multi-center, multi-corridor, and networked layout. For example, in terms of some measures, we will give priority to using the surplus capacity of existing railways to open intercity trains, and encourage small groups and buses to operate urban (suburban) trains. Promote the renewal and transformation of busy sections of expressways, and rationally increase the number of entrances and exits for sections near urban expressways. We have now guided the metropolitan area to speed up the construction of 6 intercity backbone commuting corridors, and the Guangzhou metropolitan area to build 4 radiation corridors along Guangfo, Guangguan, Guangzhu, and Guangqing.

The second keyword is convenience, which is to promote convenient transfers at hubs. We will accelerate the upgrading of facilities such as dedicated passageways and connecting ramps at passenger transport hubs, shorten the distance between rail transit and modes of travel such as buses and bike sharing, promote integrated passenger transport hubs, and encourage the rational arrangement of rail transit at railway stations and airports where conditions are available. In terms of freight, the main thing is to optimize the layout of freight hubs in the metropolitan area to achieve a balanced layout in terms of service industry relief and work-residence balance.

The third keyword is homopolization, which is to promote the same urbanization of commuting services. Specific measures include encouraging the operation of customized passenger transportation, customized buses, and chartered commuting buses, and rationally operating the first and last shuttle buses, shuttle buses, and night buses to meet the needs of the public, such as leaving early and returning late, and peak commuting. At present, the Beijing-Tianjin intercity in the metropolitan area has been operated by public transportation, customized express buses for commuting around Beijing are developing rapidly, and the distance between commuting time and space between cities in the capital is currently improving.

The fourth keyword is intelligence, which means implementing intelligent travel. It is mainly to carry out digital intelligence upgrades and transformation of metropolitan ring lines, city-bypass highways, and important entrances and exits, to promote the construction of smart parking guidance, smart car search, and smart parking systems at hubs in an orderly manner, and promote the application of typical “artificial intelligence+transportation” scenarios in the metropolitan area.

Currently, the Ministry of Transport, together with the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region people's governments and relevant departments, has formulated an implementation plan to speed up the construction of an integrated transportation system in the modern metropolitan area, taking the lead in supporting the capital metropolitan area to achieve a breakthrough in building a one-hour commuter circle, and has also accumulated experience for the whole country.

In short, we will do our best to make commuting faster and more comfortable. Thank you, and thank you to all our fellow journalists.

Jia Huili:

That's all for today's press conference. Thank you to all the publishers, thank you to all the reporters and friends for participating, and see you all.

This article was selected from “China Net”, editor of Zhitong Finance: Li Fu.