# Transport By [iesha168](https://paragraph.com/@iesha168) · 2021-10-29 --- Since the late 1990s, China's national road network has been significantly expanded through the creation of a network of [national highways](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_National_Highways) and [expressways](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressways_of_China). In 2018, [China's highways](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expressways_of_China) had reached a total length of 142,500 km (88,500 mi), making it the [longest highway system in the world](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_road_network_size).[\[467\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-486) China has the world's largest market for automobiles, having surpassed the United States in both auto sales and [production](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_motor_vehicle_production). A side-effect of the rapid growth of China's road network has been a significant rise in traffic accidents,[\[468\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-487) though the number of fatalities in traffic accidents fell by 20% from 2007 to 2017.[\[469\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-488) In urban areas, bicycles remain a common mode of transport, despite the increasing prevalence of automobiles – as of 2012, there are approximately 470 million bicycles in China.[\[470\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-470MBikes-489) The [Beijing Daxing International Airport](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Daxing_International_Airport) features the world's largest single-building airport terminal. [China's railways](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_transport_in_China), which are [state-owned](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Railway_Corporation), are among [the busiest in the world](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rail_usage_statistics_by_country), handling a quarter of the world's rail traffic volume on only 6 percent of the world's tracks in 2006.[\[471\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-490)\[[_better source needed_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:NOTRS)\] As of 2017, the country had 127,000 km (78,914 mi) of railways, the [second longest network in the world](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_rail_transport_network_size).[\[472\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-2013_stats-491) The railways strain to meet enormous demand particularly during the [Chinese New Year](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_New_Year) holiday, when the [world's largest annual human migration](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chunyun) takes place.[\[473\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-overcrowding-492) China's [high-speed rail (HSR) system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_China) started construction in the early 2000s. By the end of 2020, [high speed rail in China](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_in_China) had reached 37,900 kilometers (23,550 miles) of dedicated lines alone, making it the [longest HSR network in the world](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail_by_country).[\[474\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-493)[\[475\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-494) Services on the [Beijing–Shanghai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing%E2%80%93Shanghai_high-speed_railway), [Beijing–Tianjin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing%E2%80%93Tianjin_intercity_railway), and [Chengdu–Chongqing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chengdu%E2%80%93Chongqing_intercity_railway) Lines reach up to 350 km/h (217 mph), making them the fastest conventional high speed railway services in the world. With an annual ridership of over 2.29 billion passengers in 2019 it is the world's busiest.[\[476\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-495)\[[_better source needed_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:NOTRS)\] The network includes the [Beijing–Guangzhou–Shenzhen High-Speed Railway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing%E2%80%93Guangzhou%E2%80%93Shenzhen%E2%80%93Hong_Kong_High-Speed_Railway), the single longest HSR line in the world, and the [Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing%E2%80%93Shanghai_High-Speed_Railway), which has [three of longest railroad bridges in the world](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_longest_bridges_in_the_world).[\[477\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-496) The [Shanghai Maglev Train](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Maglev_Train), which reaches 431 km/h (268 mph), is the fastest commercial train service in the world.[\[478\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-497) The [Port of Shanghai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Shanghai)'s deep water harbor on [Yangshan Island](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yangshan_Port) in the [Hangzhou Bay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangzhou_Bay) is the [world's busiest container port](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world%27s_busiest_container_ports) since 2010. Since 2000, the growth of rapid transit systems in Chinese cities has accelerated.[\[479\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-498) As of January 2021, 44 Chinese cities have [urban mass transit systems](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_rail_transit_in_China) in operation[\[480\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-499) and 39 more have metro systems approved.[\[481\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-500) As of 2020, China boasts the five longest [metro systems in the world](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_metro_systems) with the networks in [Shanghai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghai_Metro), [Beijing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_Subway), [Guangzhou](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guangzhou_Metro), [Chengdu](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chengdu_Metro) and [Shenzhen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenzhen_Metro) being the largest. There were [approximately 229 airports in 2017](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_airports_in_China), with around 240 planned by 2020. China has over 2,000 [river and seaports](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ports_in_China), about 130 of which are open to foreign shipping.\[[_citation needed_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)\] In 2017, the Ports of [Shanghai](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Shanghai), [Hong Kong](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Hong_Kong), [Shenzhen](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Shenzhen), [Ningbo-Zhoushan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Ningbo-Zhoushan), [Guangzhou](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Guangzhou), [Qingdao](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Qingdao) and [Tianjin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_of_Tianjin) ranked in the Top 10 in the world [in container traffic](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world%27s_busiest_container_ports) and [cargo tonnage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world%27s_busiest_container_ports). --- *Originally published on [iesha168](https://paragraph.com/@iesha168/transport)*