Chongqing- Chongqing's 14th Five-year Plan points out the need to build a metropolitan area on rails and form a 1-hour commuting circle connecting surrounding regions, including Wanzhou District, the heart of the Three Gorges reservoir region.
Urban rail transit is the development direction of modern urban transportation, especially for Chongqing, one of the world's massive mountain and rivers cities.
According to the plan, a 1-hour commuting circle primarily refers to the interconnection of peripheral districts within the central city area. Chongqing will further enhance the transportation capacity by connecting distinctive areas.
Wanzhou, northeast of Chongqing, is an important node city of the Belt and Road Initiatives and Yangtze River Economic Belt. It also plays a significant role in constructing the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle due to its important geographical situation.
The construction of a model area for the integrated development of Wanzhou-Dazhou-Kaizhou is one key project in the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle.
During the 14th Five-year Plan period, Wanzhou District plans to invest 37 billion yuan (about 5.8 billion U.S. dollars) in transport construction. It will build a national comprehensive transport hub by 2025, according to Wanzhou Transport Bureau on February 21.
Wanzhou, Dazhou and Kaizhou
Wanzhou, Dazhou, and Kaizhou share mountains, rivers, cultures, and customs. There has been friendship between the peoples since ancient times.
The three places have been cooperating for a long time. The transportation of the three places has made significant progress over the years, and the level of interconnection has been continuously improved.
For example, Dazhou-Wanzhou Railway has opened up the passage of Sichuan from the east to the north, Wanzhou-Wanli Railway provided a convenient channel for the Chengdu-Chongqing region to travel from the east to the north, and the Kaizhou-Wushan Expressway projects widened the northward passage of Chongqing.
Now, facing the great opportunity of the construction of the Chengdu-Chongqing economic circle, the three places have fully realized the advent of a new era. As the transport hub and material distribution center at the junction of Sichuan, Chongqing, Shanxi, and Hubei, they are bound to be an important part of the economic circle.
Chongqing Section of Zhengwan High-speed Railway. (iChongqing file photo)
Railways
According to the plan, Zhengzhou-Wanzhou High-speed Railway and the special line for the Xintian Port railway collection and distribution center will be put into service upon completion in Wanzhou District this year.
Xintian Port is becoming a new port and a new channel for the east of Sichuan and Chongqing, and the south of Gansu and Shaanxi to reach the sea, with excellent water and multimodal transport conditions.
It will seamlessly connect with Yiwan, Dawan, and Lanyu Railway, becoming the most convenient channel to transport materials through the Yangtze River, significantly saving transportation time and greatly reducing logistics costs.
Meanwhile, the Chongqing-Wanzhou and Chengdu-Dazhou-Wanzhou high-speed railway projects under construction are also expected to be completed during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.
At that time, the 30-minute transport system will be established in Wanzhou, Dazhou, and Kaizhou.
Highways
By 2025, Wanzhou will strive to realize the "one-hour highway commute" of Wanzhou-Dazhou-Kaizhou and accelerate the integrated development of Wanzhou-Dazhou-Kaizhou and Wanzhou-Kaizhou-Yunyang.
In terms of ordinary roads, Wanzhou will strive to ensure all dangerous sections will be equipped with security facilities, tertiary highways connect more than 85% of the eligible townships, and roads link all the villager groups by 2025.
Waterways
Wanzhou, located in the vital part of the Three Gorges Reservoir area, boasts very prominent transport advantages and port advantages of the Yangtze River Golden Waterway.
According to the plan, by 2025, Wanzhou District port will reach the annual passenger and freight handling capacity of more than eight million and 60 million tons, respectively, and be built into the Three Gorges Reservoir area's shipping center second-largest hub port in Chongqing.
Civil aviation
In civil aviation, Wanzhou will strive to complete the expansion and T2 of Wanzhou Airport by 2023. At the same time, the 4D transformation of the aviation hub will be completed during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.
Wanzhou will also move faster to complete the revision of the general regulation of a 4E trunk airport to upgrade the level of aviation services. By 2025, Wanzhou Airport will strive to open more than 50 international and domestic routes, with a throughput of more than 2.5 million passengers and a cargo throughput of 3,600 tons.
Logistics
Wanzhou will build a regional multimodal transport center through waterways, railways, and highways to develop a logistics system.
During the 14th Five-year Plan period, Wanzhou will steadily operate Chengdu-Wanzhou, Dazhou-Wanzhou, Xi'an-Wanzhou logistics channels, regularly operate the Wanzhou Port container liners.
Wanzhou Port Area will build a multimodal transport demonstration project and strive to open the Wanzhou-Dazhou-Kaizhou highway-waterway intermodal transport line.
By 2025, Wanzhou will form the spatial pattern of "one belt and one ring" logistics development and the logistics system layout of "one hub, four parks, and multiple terminals," The total amount of logistics will reach 200 billion yuan.
"One belt" refers to the green logistics industrial belt along the Yangtze River, and "one ring" to the liaison ring of urban logistics multimodal transport function organizations. "One hub, four parks, and multiple terminals" refer to Xintian Logistics Hub (core) and Three Gorges Comprehensive Logistics Hub (auxiliary), Dongjia Logistics Park, Airport Logistics Park, Jiangjia Logistics Park, and Xiaozhou Logistics Park, as well as urban and rural terminal distribution outlets.