On August 24, 2021, the State Council Information Office held a press conference. Liu Zhenfang, director of the National Railway Administration, introduced the achievements of the high-quality development of the railway industry in the historical process of building a well-off society in all respects.

Liu Zhenfang introduced that in the historical process of building a well-off society in an all-round way, the railway industry adheres to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, implements the decisions and deployments of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, promotes the high-quality development of railways, and has achieved world-renowned achievements.

The scale and quality of the road network are rapidly improving. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, 53,000 kilometers of new railways have been put into operation, of which 31,000 kilometers of high-speed railways have been put into operation, the national railway double-tracking rate is 59.5%, and the electrification rate is 72.8%, ranking first in the world. The "four vertical and four horizontal" high-speed rail network has been fully completed, and the "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed rail network is being encrypted and formed. The high-speed rail has covered 92% of the country's cities with a population of more than 500,000.

The level of transportation services has been significantly improved. The various indicators of railway transportation safety and quality rank among the top in the world, and the main railway transportation economic indicators such as passenger turnover, freight dispatching volume, and freight turnover are ranking first in the world. In 2019, the railway passenger volume was 3.66 billion people, and the passenger turnover volume was 147.66 billion person-kilometers. In 2020, the railway freight volume will be 4.55 billion tons and the freight turnover volume will be 305.145 billion ton-kilometers. The safety of railway transportation continues to be stable, especially the safety of high-speed rail operations is the world leader.

Technological innovation has achieved fruitful results. The overall technical level of China's railway has entered the world's advanced ranks, and the technology of high-speed, plateau, alpine, and heavy-haul railways has reached the world's leading level. The system has mastered the complete set of high-speed rail construction technologies under different climatic environments and different geological conditions, and formed a series of Fuxing products that cover different speed grades and can adapt to various operating environments, providing solid scientific and technological support for realizing China's railway modernization.

Liu Zhenfang said that the railway department will continue to focus on the people, fully and comprehensively implement the new development concept, promote the high-quality development of railways, and set a good example for the comprehensive construction of a modern socialist country. Editor/Tian Zengpeng