Central China's Henan province plans to build four high-speed railways during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) period, to help the regional logistics hub compete with other established rivals in the nation's coastal areas.

The motivation behind this push is the central government's approval of the Plan to Promote the Development of the Central Region.

Henan aims to get all major cities, including the provincial capital Zhengzhou, Pingdingshan, Luoyang and Kaifeng, connected with high-speed lines to reach destinations in other provinces.

A total of four high-speed railways, including Zhengzhou to Jinan, Zhengzhou to Hefei and Zhengzhou to Wanzhou, are planned to strengthen Henan's links with China's Jiaodong Peninsula, southwest region and the Yangtze River Delta.

The development of the central region, which includes Henan, Hunan and Hubei, has strategic importance in China's regional development layout and is also expected to benefit Shanxi, Anhui and Jiangxi in north and east regions.

Xie Fuzhan, the governor of Henan, said as transportation was listed as one of the priorities in China's long-term development plan, making long-term investments in high-speed railway networks can generate more business and people-to-people exchanges to better serve the market demand in Henan and neighboring provinces.

"Transportation projects including rail, airport and road construction work in central and western China, along with the fast pace of urbanization, are crucial in boosting investment growth, as well as ensuring employment rates in the region," said Xie.

A larger rail network is being planned to link all cities with a population of half a million people or greater. Henan considers high-speed railways as an alternative to the property sector to develop the service sector and drive the province's flagging economic growth.

Although the province has long been a major commercial center for the domestic market, Xie said such trade is no longer as central to Henan as it used to be.

Both domestic and foreign investors in the province are increasingly putting money and resources into manufacturing and e-commerce platforms to fuel their growth.

Sun Tingxi, director of Henan provincial development and reform commission, said Henan is attractive to international companies including United Parcel Service, Coca-Cola and Nestle because of the province's Central China location, efficient cargo railway network, reasonable labor costs and the industrial boom, which will help it become one of the top five regional transport centers in China during the next three years.

Other key industries in Henan also have seen impressive growth, including the automotive, machinery and aluminum manufacturing sectors.

In 2014, Zhengzhou was voted as one of the most popular Chinese cities for foreign trade growth and has attracted a considerable amount of foreign direct investment, according to research by the Beijing-based China International Chamber of Commerce released in February.

Sun said the Henan provincial government will continue to invest in infrastructure construction projects, including building more railways, highways, large-scale logistics warehouses and service facilities during the next five years, to help foreign companies such as UPS and Apple shorten the distance between their domestic and global markets.

"A modern rail infrastructure and regular block train service to key cities in China will not only strengthen the local industry but also help attract fresh capital and new industries," said Zhou Zhicheng, deputy director of the research department of the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing in Beijing.

Zhou said many companies were more inclined to locate their factories at inland sites if there was availability of fast and inexpensive access to their core markets. Without well-developed railway networks, this cannot be achieved.

Eager to upgrade the region's cargo rail transport, China Railway Corp completed a test on a heavy-haul railway with 30 metric tons of axle load from Changzi South Station to Pingshun station earlier this year, marking a breakthrough in the country's heavy-haul railway technology. The railway is part of the Shanxi-Henan-Shandong rail line.

Heavy haulage is recognized worldwide as the future of rail transportation, while rail wagon axle load represents the level of heavy-haul railway development. At the moment, China's rail freight trains generally carry axle loads of up to 23 tons.

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(China Daily 04/24/2015 page19)