2018年CRI China's mileages of high-speed rail and expressways top world ranking（在线收听）

China leads the world for high-speed rail and expressways, in terms of mileage, with each of those networks expanding over the past year.

At the same time, China has also cut its logistics costs by nearly 90 billion yuan, which has provided significant financial relief for businesses in the country.

Minister of Transportation Li Xiaopeng has given an update on the expansion of the country's rail and road networks.

"By the end of 2017, the total mileage of China's operational railway reached 127,000 kilometers, among which the mileage of high-speed railway was 25,000 kilometers, ranking No. 1 in the world. The total mileage of roads in service was 4.77 million kilometers, among which the mileage of expressway was 136,000 kilometers, also ranking No. 1 in the world."

The minister said transportation services have also been raised to a higher level.

"As to the transportation services, more than 18.5 billion passenger trips were handled last year, and over 47 billion tons of goods were delivered. Speaking of postal services, over 40 billion packages were delivered last year, or a daily average of over 100 million. This means that the level of our transportation services has been rising. The same is also true in the fields of transportation technologies and management."

China's supply-side reform in the transport field also made significant progress last year, reducing costs by nearly 90 billion yuan.

The reduction came from lower toll fees, cancellation of compulsory tests for commercial vehicles, and lower service fees on shipping companies.

Vice minister of transport Liu Xiaoming says the figure surpassed the annual target by 13 percent.

"The costs were reduced in four aspects. When we do detailed calculations, we want it to push forward cost reductions for enterprises in the real economy. A total of nearly 99 billion yuan was cut."

Compared with developed countries, China's logistics costs remain high, accounting for nearly 15 percent of GDP in 2016.

Liu says more efforts will be made this year to ensure reductions in the months ahead exceed the totals of the past year.