In order to lower emissions caused by truck transportation, special railway lines for coal and steel enterprises with annual bulk freight volumes in excess of 1.50 million mt will be built in China’s Hebei Province, as announced by the Hebei provincial government in its implementation plan for structural adjustment of transportation in the 2018-20 period.
Steelmakers in Hebei Province, the largest steel producing region in China, have been very dependent on trucks for transportation of coal and iron ore from the nearest railways to their plants, resulting in high emissions and heavy pollution. The new plan to build special railway lines for bulk goods aims to reduce this pollution.
The plan foresees that by 2020 the annual freight volume by railway in Hebei Province will increase by 317 million mt or 185 percent as compared to 2017. Accordingly, railway transportation will account for a share of over 80 percent in transportation of bulk goods to Hebei’s coal and steel enterprises.