China's key transport development indicators posted steady growth this year, with cross-regional passenger trips expected to exceed 66 billion, said Li Yang, vice minister of transport, at a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.
"Major economic indicators for transportation maintained steady growth. It is projected that fixed asset investment in transportation will exceed 3.6 trillion yuan this year (around 511.29 billion U.S. dollars), cross-regional passenger traffic will exceed 66 billion, and commercial freight volume will exceed 58 billion tons, all representing year-on-year growth of around 3.5 percent. Foreign trade container throughput at ports is expected to rise by about 9.6 percent," he said.
Li also noted that the country has seen continued improvement in its transport service capacity this year. At present, the 54 cities that have opened and operated urban rail transit are running a combined length exceeding 11,000 kilometers, carrying more than 90 million passenger trips per day on average. Around 83.3 percent of hub airports are now connected to rail transit systems, he added.
To better meet the travel needs of elderly passengers, service quality has been upgraded, with 1,450 senior-friendly bus routes and more than 11,000 customized bus services launched in major cities nationwide.
In addition, China has seen faster development of new quality productive forces in the transport sector this year. An action plan on "AI plus transport" was issued and the development of a comprehensive transport large-scale model was launched. The country has completed digital upgrades to about 1,700 kilometers of expressways and more than 2,200 road and waterway auxiliary facilities so far this year. It has also built 60 automated container and bulk cargo terminals, while China's domestically made C919 aircraft have safely carried more than 3 million passenger trips in total, Li said.
China's transport sector maintains steady growth in 2025
