Why should China develop a comprehensive transportation system?

I. The Important Position of Railway in the National Comprehensive Transportation Network (I. Measurement standard of backbone transportation mode of comprehensive transportation network) The structure of comprehensive transportation network can be divided into three levels: national (or regional) backbone network, regional backbone network and basic network. There is a great difference between the basic network function and the backbone network function in the integrated transportation network. The basic network functions focus on surface and daily use, the national backbone network functions focus on the relationship between regions and their functions, and the regional backbone network focuses on the connection between major economic points in the region and the national backbone network, and between regional centers. The basic network function of a mode of transportation can be measured by its proportion in the total traffic volume of the whole society and how much higher it is than other modes of transportation, so as to show its universality and universality. The higher the proportion, the stronger its basic network function and the closer it is to people's life and lifestyle, but it can't fully show its role in the backbone network. The role of the backbone network of a mode of transportation should be measured by the socio-economic importance of the points directly connected to it (two or more points), the density of passenger and freight transportation and the role played by this mode of transportation. The proportion of the traffic it undertakes in the total traffic of the whole society is not necessarily the highest, but it must play a major role in the traffic of the channel, and the completed traffic accounts for a high proportion of the total traffic of the channel. If this mode of transportation plays a major role in most or most transportation channels, it can be a different mode of transportation because of the different service scope and functions of the national (or regional) backbone network and the regional backbone network, but the national (or regional) backbone network must be suitable for long-distance and large-capacity transportation, and the regional backbone network can be a large-capacity and high-density transportation mode or a large-capacity transportation mode. The larger the land area, the wider the distribution of population centers, the more unbalanced the distribution of resources, and the clearer the division of labor in industrial areas. The developed degree of backbone network not only affects the rational development and utilization of resources, industrial layout and the fair development of social economy among regions, but also determines the overall level of comprehensive transportation network, affecting and guiding the development and rational layout of regional networks and basic networks. (II) The backbone role of China Railway in the comprehensive transportation network China has a vast territory, with east-west and north-south spans of 5,400km and 5,200km respectively. The average distance between provincial capitals is about 1.500km. The characteristics of large population, wide distribution, unbalanced regional economic development, and extremely asymmetric industrial layout and resource distribution have formed a high-intensity interregional passenger and cargo flow, which determines the importance of regional trunk transportation network in the comprehensive transportation network and its importance. The layout of trunk transportation network and the choice of main transportation modes are not only directly related to the liquidity level of the whole country, but also directly related to transportation efficiency and economy, as well as the proportion of overall transportation costs in the national economy, which further affects the spatial displacement capacity of people or goods, the efficiency of resource allocation, the breadth of market scope, the developed degree of commodity economy, the fair development between regions and the international competitiveness of products. Therefore, in the construction of China's comprehensive transportation system, we must give full play to their respective advantages, rationally divide the work and coordinate development according to the technical and economic characteristics of various modes of transportation; In trunk transportation, we should not only emphasize the economy of transportation, but also meet the requirements of effectiveness. As a typical mainland country, China needs a powerful mode of transportation to link the whole country with the national economy and guide and promote the development of other modes of transportation. The most remarkable characteristics of the railway are high carrying quality, low operating cost and low energy consumption. It not only has absolute advantages in medium and long-distance large-volume and large-volume passenger and freight transportation, but also has strong competitive advantages in large-volume and high-density intercity short-distance passenger transportation. It is the most suitable regional backbone transportation mode for China's economic and geographical characteristics and people's income level. It can be proved that the United States, Russia and Canada, which are vast countries, all have strong railway networks as the pillars of the national economy. Although China's expressways and civil aviation have made great progress since the 1990s, and the competition of railway transportation has become more and more obvious, the pillar role of railways in the national economy and the leading role in China's comprehensive transportation network are irreplaceable by other modes of transportation. 1. The role of railways in the transportation of energy and raw materials is that the distribution of resources and industries in China is unbalanced and asymmetric, which is irreplaceable by other modes of transportation. Resources are mainly distributed in the west, northwest and southwest of North China, and industry and economy are mainly distributed in the east. As a result, a large-scale and long-distance flow of energy, raw materials and goods from west to east and from north to south has been formed, and the land transportation distance is generally 800 ~ 10. These goods are important materials for the development of national economy, and their stable and timely economic supply is directly related to the growth of national economy and is the focus of regional transportation safety; In fact, the cargo transportation network of China's comprehensive transportation is largely centered on the transportation of these materials. Whether it is the "bottleneck" of transportation during the Seventh Five-Year Plan period or the shortage of coal transportation in 2003, the most prominent performance is that these materials cannot be transported in time and in sufficient quantity to meet the needs of production due to insufficient railway capacity. At the same time, the value of these goods is relatively low, and the transportation cost accounts for a large proportion of the value of goods, which requires higher transportation economy. Therefore, these materials must mainly rely on railway transportation or rail-sea combined transportation with large transportation capacity and low transportation cost to meet the needs, and the sharing degree of road transportation is limited, mainly to supplement the short-distance collection and transportation of these materials and some short-distance transportation. In 2002, the national coal output was 65.438+0.38 billion tons, and the railway coal transportation volume reached 86.5438+0.9 billion tons, accounting for 59.35% of the coal output, and the proportion of the total outbound transportation may be as high as 80%. From the perspective of future development, China is in a period of accelerated industrialization, and the basic industries will develop greatly, and the demand for energy, minerals and raw materials will continue to grow greatly. By 2020, under the conditions of improving energy efficiency and vigorously saving energy, the energy supply needs to double, that is, to reach 3 billion tons of standard coal, in order to support the goal of quadrupling the national economy. It can be inferred that the freight volume of bulk energy, raw materials and other goods undertaken by railways will still maintain a certain growth rate in the future. Even with the development of expressway, the highway transportation capacity is greatly enhanced, but it is still lack of economy to transport these materials long distance by highway. 2. The main role of railway in China's long-distance passenger transport is irreplaceable. China has a vast territory, a large population, a large base of inter-regional and inter-city personnel flow, long travel distance and high transportation cost. At present, although the living standard of Chinese people is generally well-off, the income level is still low, and the transportation cost has a great influence on people's travel and transportation mode choice. Especially in the existing passenger flow groups, job seekers, students, low-and middle-income people who go out to work to visit relatives and travel, and individual small business operators account for a large proportion, and their ability to bear transportation expenses is relatively limited. Railway passenger transport is not only cheaper, but also safer than other modes of transport. In terms of time and speed, the speed of the speed-increasing line reached 120- 160 km/h through five speed increases, and the transit time was obviously shortened. Basically, the "early arrival" and "one-day arrival" of major cities, medium and long-distance passenger transport and large-volume intercity passenger transport have been realized. Relevant data show that in 200 1 year, the share of long-distance passenger flow exceeding 1000 km is about 67%, and the rest is mainly borne by civil aviation, and the proportion of highways is very small; In the medium-distance passenger flow from 100 to 1000 km, the share borne by the railway exceeds 90%; The proportion of short-distance passenger flow borne by the railway is about 2.5%. According to the survey of 32 major cities in China, the share of direct passenger flow in major cities in China is 63.56%, 19.26% for aviation and 17. 18% for highways. Among them, within the range of 400- 1200 km, the market share of railways is the largest, about 72.6%; 1200-59.2% of 2400km; The market share of railways over 2400km is 50.2%, and that of railways under 400km is 6 1.4%. From the analysis of future development, although with the development of economy and the improvement of people's income level, the ability to pay transportation expenses will be enhanced, and the number of passengers who choose air for long-distance travel will gradually increase, railway is still the dominant way for medium and long-distance passengers to travel. First, although people's income has increased and their living standards have improved, the overall income level is still not high. Even if the per capita income quadruples with GDP, by 2020, the per capita income of urban residents will be about 25 120 yuan/year, and the per capita net income of rural areas will be about 9020 yuan/year. With the increase of income, the expected expenditure on housing, education and medical care also increases, and a considerable number of rural and county residents have to bear the huge resettlement costs of urbanization. Therefore, the economy of travel is still very important to most people. Second, the distance between China's regions and cities is far, and the total transportation cost is high. According to the passenger flow survey of 32 major cities in China, the shortest distance of railway is 137 km (Beijing-Tianjin), the longest distance is 5 172 km (Xiamen-Urumqi), and the average distance is 188. Among the 496 urban pairs, 22 pairs are below 400 km, accounting for 4.4%, 335 pairs are between 400 and 2400 km, accounting for 67.6%, and over 2400 km 139 pairs, accounting for 28.0%. Therefore, it is very important for travelers to choose the appropriate mode of transportation. Although there will be more and more people owning private cars in the future, it will mainly have a greater impact on short-distance travel and less impact on medium and long-distance travel. Judging from the distance between major cities in China, the railway is the most cost-effective mode of transportation. Third, the service quality and running speed of railways have been continuously improved. In terms of medium and long-distance passenger transport, the competition between railways and expressways has a strong advantage, especially with the development of passenger dedicated lines. In terms of long-distance passenger transport, although the competition between aviation and railway is fierce, railway is still the main mode of transportation for middle-and high-income people. Fourth, in the large-volume intercity passenger transport, even if the distance is not long, the railway has strong competitiveness. In a word, China's current and future development stage and income level determine the important role of railway in cross-city, cross-regional and cross-regional passenger travel, and it is the most important carrier of people's long-distance travel needs. Railway passenger transport will also provide transportation services with different grades and prices to gradually meet the travel requirements of passengers with different incomes and consumption levels. 3. The tension of railway transportation is the main measure to judge whether the national transportation is tense or not. The backbone role of railway in the comprehensive transportation network is not only reflected in itself, but also in its influence on other modes of transportation. First, the shortage of railway transportation will cause other transportation to be relatively tight. For example, if the railway fails to clear the port in time, it will cause a backlog of ports and aggravate the task of clearing the port by highway; Railway passenger transport is tight, and air transport is also tight. Whether the traffic in China is tense or not first refers to the railway. Only by relieving the railway transportation tension can the national transportation tension be truly relieved. Although the development of other modes of transportation can alleviate the pressure of railway demand, it cannot replace the basic role of railways in China's medium and long-distance passenger and cargo transportation.