China’s plan to boost railway freight falls behind target, knocking air pollution battle off track
- China’s plan to shift the transport of bulk cargo from dirty, diesel-burning trucks to cleaner electric-powered railcars is falling behind target
- The country’s state-run railway system is plagued by inefficiency, a lack of coordination and a mismatch in market needs, an expert says
Under the plan, which was introduced by the central government in 2018, China’s “transport structure” was to be improved by shifting the movement of bulk cargo such as minerals from dirty, diesel-burning trucks to cleaner electric-powered railcars.
By 2020, at least 80 per cent of industrial and mining firms with an annual bulk cargo volume above 1.5 million tonnes – an amount that would cover most mining sites and smelters – was to be connected to the railway system.
In addition, all major ports were told to move transport of iron ore and coal from trucks to ships and railways.
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However, official data shows the plan is lagging far behind schedule and there is little prospect that targets will be met by year-end.
For example, the Port of Tianjin, one of the major harbours in northern China, said railway transport accounted for only 64 per cent of iron ore moved from the entrepot in the first half of this year, though this was an improvement from 50 per cent for all of 2019.