China is pacing up to build a world-class transportation system featuring "first-class infrastructure, technologies and services", according to Minister of Transport Liu Wei.
In a group interview in Beijing on Wednesday after the opening meeting of the third session of the 14th National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People, Liu elaborated on the progress already made in four key areas of transportation.
"In terms of first-class facilities, China has already built the world's largest high-speed railway network, expressway network, postal express network, and world-class port clusters. Among them, the operational mileage of high-speed railways has totaled 48,000 kilometers, that of expressways totaled 190,000 kilometers, both ranking first in the world," said Liu.
He also noted that the total mileage of China's comprehensive transportation network has surpassed 6 million kilometers, with approximately 90 percent of the main skeleton lines of the national transportation network completed. The construction of these major transportation infrastructures has provided a solid material foundation for Chinese modernization.
"In terms of first-class technology, Chinese high-speed railways, Chinese highways, Chinese bridges, Chinese ports, and Chinese express delivery services have become brilliant business cards for China," said Liu.
"In terms of first-class management, China's transportation laws, regulations, and standard systems are relatively complete, and the modernization of the transportation governance system and governance capacity is quickening," Liu continued.
"In terms of first-class service, China has become the country with the busiest passenger and logistics transportation in the world," he said.
From the perspective of international shipping, China ranks first globally in both fleet size and shipping volume, solidifying its position as a major maritime power, said Liu.
The minister stressed that domestically, during this year's Spring Festival travel rush, the transportation system handled 339 million passenger trips on the sixth day of the Year of the Snake, setting a new record.
In the express delivery sector, on October 22, 2024, China's express parcel volume in a single day reached 729 million, equivalent to one package for every two people in the country, he said.
China makes remarkable achievements in developing "first-class" infrastructure, technologies, services: minister
