Faster and Greener Transportation Ahead

09/05/2019

Nansha Bridge just opened in April this year. Image: Guangdong Provincial Communication Group Company Limited

urbanisationnews transportation

South China currently has some new developments on transportation, traveling in this area seems going to be greener and faster. Here are few updates in the past months. 

The Top Story

Hainan's Ban on Sales of Fossil Fuel Cars

China's southern province Hainan has decided to phase out fossil fuel cars on its roads, as the first province in China to set a timetable to do so. According to a provincial development plan released in March, the island will completely ban sales of fossil fuel cars in 2030, and will ensure all the vehicles run on 'new energy' by the same time.

This plan provided details on a 3 step road-map to meet the goal of "Green Smart Commuting" in 2030. Firstly, all public services vehicles such as government cars, public buses, taxies and ride-hailing vehicles will turn to fossil fuel free by 2020. Then by 2025, all rental cars, tourist buses, sanitation vehicles and light trucks will be fully replaced by clean energy cars. Thereafter, the whole province will achieve goals of clean energy use with greener cars.  

The adaption of so-called New Energy Vehicles (NEVs) which include fully electric, hybrid plug-ins, and fuel cell vehicles has accelerated in recent years. Despite the first annual drop of China's auto sales, the sales of NEVs saw a steady growth last year. According to data released by China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, about 1.26 million NEVs were sold in China last year, up 61.7 percent from 2017.

Visitors check out a new energy vehicle at an industrial expo in Haikou, Hainan province, in January. Image: Xinhua

This great shift to clean energy vehicles is triggered by government's vision to battle its huge environmental problems, and ample NEVs subsidies were provided to both consumers and producers. The main factor causing air pollution in urban China is now changing from coal burning to vehicle emissions. According to Hainan Daily's report, the vehicle exhausts contribute to 45%, 29.2% and 52.1% of the source of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Thanks to the tropical climate and abundant natural resources, Hainan is known as China Hawaii and set to become "civilised ecology test zone". The implementation of banning fossil fuel vehicles is designed to support the transition to such goals. Hainan currently has 77 percent buses and 90 percent taxies running on clean energy, comparatively other vehicles have low rates of clean energy adaption.       

An aerial view of the city of Sanya, Hainan province. Image: Hainan Daily

---

Other transportation News

Image: Nanfang Plus

Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen intercity rail link

Changan Station in Dongguan. Image:Chinanews.com

An intercity rail link between Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen is scheduled to open in September this year.​

Xintang area is well connected with railways and bus stations. Image: Gaode Map

Linking from Shenzhen airport to Xintang station in Guangzhou, the completion of this line is expected to enhance the connectivity of the Greater Bay Area (GBA). The new line is well connected with the metro system of the three sister cities, as it connects to the Guangzhou metro at Xintang on Line 13, Dongguan metro at Huaman Railway Station and Houjie on Line 2 and Shenzhen metro at Airport and Airport North on Line 11.

The government plans to extend the line further in the future that it will connect to Qianhai in Shenzhen and both East Railway station and Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou.

Heping Station of the Intercity Line is one metro stop away from the Shenzhen New Exhibition Centre. Image: Google Map

The Intercity Line connects to Shenzhen Metro Line 11 at Shenzhen Airport. Image:Gaode Map

In addition to the Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen Intercity Rail Link, Shenzhen intends to build more connecting rail lines with other cities in the area. According to the newly approved Master-plan of Shenzhen Railway Hub (2016-2030), two more high-speed railway stations are proposed for the high-speed railway connections to the city. Xili Station and Shenzhen Airport Station which are located in the western districts of Nanshan and Bao'an, will serve the Shenzhen-Maoming, Ganzhou-Shenzhen high speed rails and Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen, Shenzhen-Huizhou and Shenzhen-Zhuhai intercity links. This plan aims to provide Shenzhen railway network with 3 main (Shenzhen North, Xili, Shenzhen) and 4 auxiliary (Futian, Shenzhen East, Shenzhen Airport, Pingshan) stations.   

Newly released railway network map shows Guangzhou-Dongguan-Shenzhen Intercity Rail Line with other rail lines in the area.

---

Shenzhen 3rd Airport Runway Approved 

Shenzhen Airport. Image: Shenzhen Daily

A third runway in Shenzhen is expected to be built just next to the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expresssway. Image: Gaode Map

China's top economic decision making body, the National Development & Reform Commission (NDRC) has recently approved Shenzhen's proposal for building the 3rd runway for its airport. This purpose of this approval which is indicated by NDRC is to meet the needs of rapid growth in aviation and accelerate construction of world-class airports in the Pearl River Delta area, and that coincides with the goals to build world-class airport cluster in the recently issued GBA Development outlines.

The new project is expected to cost 9.35 billion RMB with 3,500-sqm control tower, 8,500-sqm business operation building and 1,500-sqm equipment building. 

​

---

The Nansha Bridge tests out its 3,837 lights on March 21. Image: Guangzhou Daily

Opening of Nansha Bridge 

A bridge links Guangzhou's Nansha with Dongguan' Humen officially opened to the public last month. This bridge is named as Nansha bridge (formerly the Second Humen Bridge), and it will reduce the travelling time between the two cities to 30 minutes.​​

The opening of the new bridge is expected to ease traffic congestion on the Humen Bridge, which was the only connection in the Pearl River estuary until the completion of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. Therefore, it will not only benefit travellers from the two cities, but also the surrounding cities, such as Zhuhai, Zhongshan and Shenzhen.

Image: BWPI

This 12.89 kilometre long passageway consists of 8 lanes and intends to handle 100,000 vehicles each day. Moreover, the bridge is equipped with 5G technology, based on the full coverage of real-time connection, drones (5G UAVs) will run on the bridge, conducting intelligent patrol inspections and ensuring power supply of the bridge.

---

---

---

---

---

---

2019/02/22 
HOUSING
Up or Down? (January 2019)

2019/01/17
DEVELOPMENT:
Further Planning for Greater Bay Area

2019/01/08
SOCIAL
How Smart Technology is Changing Urban Life in China

2018/10/25
TRANSPORTATION:
Buses Moving Towards Automation

​​2018/09/06
ENVIRONMENT:
Tightening Air Pollution Controls​​​  

Wechat

...social
...housing
...environment
...transportation
...development​