The Information Office of Shanxi Provincial Government held a press conference on Dec 14 to shed light on Shanxi province's development plan for a modern comprehensive transportation system during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25).

The plan clarifies the development goals for the period: by 2025, Shanxi seeks to develop high-speed rail and air services covering all prefecture-level cities, highways connecting to all counties, form a diversified passenger transport service system, and further optimize the freight transport structure.

During the period, Shanxi will continue to advance the construction of the Shanxi sections of the eight north-south and eight east-west high-speed railways, expand the coverage of high-speed railways, and form a high-speed rail network with the provincial capital of Taiyuan as the core.

The province will build a civil airport layout with Taiyuan Wusu International Arterial Airport as the main airport, and eight airports in the cities of Datong, Xinzhou, Luliang, Changzhi, Linfen, Yuncheng, Jincheng, and Shuozhou as branches, forming a general aviation airport network covering the whole province.

It also aims to bring highway mileage up to more than 6,500 kilometers, open 32 highway exits to other provinces, and connect local cities via highways and high-quality roads by 2025.

By the end of 2025, the province will seek to cap the travel time between Taiyuan and other prefecture-level cities in Shanxi at two hours, and the travel time between Taiyuan and major domestic cities at three hours, while promoting Taiyuan's status as a national comprehensive transportation hub.

The province will strive to form a cargo delivery and logistics circle in which goods can be delivered to any city in the province within one day, to rural areas in the province within two days, and to cities outside Shanxi within three days.

To achieve these goals, the plan proposes 70 tasks and measures related to building a modern comprehensive transportation network, improving the quality of passenger transport services, and enhancing the efficiency of modern freight logistics services.