The railway safety situation has improved substantially. In 2021, the number of deaths in China’s railway traffic accidents will drop by 23.1% year-on-year. There will be no particularly serious or major railway traffic accidents throughout the year, and only one major accident has occurred, a decrease of 12 from the previous year. On April 28, 2022, the State Railway Administration issued the “2021 Railway Statistics Bulletin” (hereinafter referred to as the “Bulletin”) to disclose the above content.
The “Announcement” does not disclose the specific number of deaths in China’s railway traffic accidents in 2021. According to the “2019 Railway Safety Announcement” and “2020 Railway Statistical Bulletin” issued by the State Railway Administration, it is estimated that there will be a total of 518 deaths in China’s railway traffic accidents in 2021. people.
Since its establishment in 2013, the State Railway Administration has issued a total of 7 “Railway Safety Announcements” (no longer issued after 2020). The number of deaths in China’s railway traffic accidents has dropped from 1,336 in 2013 to 518 in 2021, a drop of 61.23% in nine years. The transportation safety situation continues to improve.
The improvement in the safety situation is not only reflected in the continuous reduction in the number of traffic accident deaths, but also in the acceleration of the decline in the number of deaths. Taking 2017 as an example, the number of deaths in China’s railway traffic accidents decreased by only 3.6% year-on-year. From 2018 to 2020, the year-on-year decline continued to increase, respectively 4.6%, 8.1% and 14.47%. In 2021, the year-on-year decrease exceeded a breakthrough. Twenty percent mark. 2021 is also the year with the largest drop in the number of deaths in China’s railway traffic accidents since the former Ministry of Railways was revoked and the State Railway Administration was established.
At the same time, 2021 ended a two-year run of surges in larger accidents. There was only one major accident in the whole year, a year-on-year decrease of 92.31%. Compared with 2019 and 2020, there were 13 and 4 major railway traffic accidents, with year-on-year growth of 300% and 225%, respectively. In the past 9 years, China has never had a particularly serious or major railway traffic accident.
By the end of 2021, China has 21,700 railway locomotives, including 7,800 diesel locomotives and 13,900 electric locomotives. There are 78,000 railway passenger cars in China, including 4153 standard EMUs, 33,200 units, and 966,000 railway freight cars in China.
The operating mileage of China’s railways has reached 150,000 kilometers, of which the operating mileage of high-speed railways has reached 40,000 kilometers, with a double-track rate of 59.5% and an electrification rate of 73.3%.
In 2021, China’s railway passenger volume will reach 2.612 billion, an increase of 18.5% over the previous year. China’s total railway freight delivery volume reached 4.774 billion tons, an increase of 4.9% over the previous year. The investment in fixed assets of China’s railways has reached 748.9 billion yuan, and 4,208 kilometers of new lines have been put into operation, including 2,168 kilometers of high-speed railways.
In terms of energy conservation and emission reduction, the “Announcement” shows that in 2021, the comprehensive energy consumption of China’s national railways per unit of transportation workload will be reduced by 0.16 tons of standard coal/million converted ton-kilometers compared with the previous year, and the chemical oxygen demand emissions will be reduced by 12 tons compared with the previous year. Sulfur dioxide emissions decreased by 10,000 tons compared with the previous year.
