cri-report - According to data, by the end of 2012, the total operating mileage of rail transit nationwide was 2,042 km, rising by 21.76% compared with that of 1,677 km in 2011. In 2012, rail transit lines were under construction in 35 cities nationwide, and the total investment was estimated to be about CNY 260 billion. In 2013, the new round of rail transit construction plans of 10 cities, namely, Xi’an, Tianjin, Chongqing, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Kunming, Qingdao, Wuxi and Dongguan will be approved. Xuzhou, Wenzhou and other cities will be approved as the newly-added cities. This year, the total investment size of urban rail transit was expected to reach CNY 280 billion to CNY 290 billion. (http://www.cri-report.com/railway/9837-research-report-on-china-s-urban-rail-transit-industry-2013-2017.html)

Supported by China’s policies, urban rail transit ushering in rapid development

In July 2012, the State Council issued the “12th Five-Year” Planning of Comprehensive Transport System. In the Planning, the average annual growth rate of many transport indicators all maintains over 7.5%. The Planning also puts forwards that, intercity rapid network should be established with rail transit and highway as the backbone, in order to adapt to the development need of urban clusters, which specifically includes: the construction of intercity transport network dominated by rail transit in 3 major urban clusters, namely, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, promotion of intercity trunk construction of urban clusters in key development regions and establishment of urban transport circles.

In August, “12th Five-Year” Planning of Beijing Transport Development and Construction issued by Beijing proposed to vigorously develop rail transit and establish the backbone position of rail transit in urban public passenger transport system. The planning also points out that by 2015, the total operating mileage of rail transit network in Beijing will reach 660 km. Therefore, Beijing should speed up the construction of new rail transit lines, expand the network size and increase the network density of the central city.

In early September, approval word of rail transit construction plans in many cities nationwide was published in the website of the National Development and Reform Commission, and the construction of urban rail transit presented speeding-up signs. The recent cross-rail construction plans in 7 cities, i.e., Shijiazhuang, Taiyuan, Lanzhou, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Xiamen and Changzhou were approved. The construction plan adjustment programs of Harbin, Shanghai and other cities were approved. In addition, regional rail-cross railway plans such as the intercity rail-cross network of Jiangsu’s urban cluster along the Yangtze River and intercity railway planning in Hohhot, Baotou and Ordos of Inner Mongolia were approved.

In October, the State Council held the executive meeting, discussing and deploying to preferentially develop public transport in cities. It is believed by insiders that, as an important part of urban public transport, the urban rail transit is expected to usher in the rapid development.

It can be seen from the above analysis that, China is promoting the urban rail transit construction at a globally-rare development speed.

http://www.cri-report.com/railway/9837-research-report-on-china-s-urban-rail-transit-industry-2013-2017.html