Reporter: The report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed building a country with strong transportation networks. How do you understand the concept of a transportation power?
Zhu Dan: In the section on “accelerating the building of an innovative country,” the report of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China proposed “building a country with strong transportation networks.” This means that building a country with strong transportation networks is an important component of building an innovative country and also a field where breakthroughs should be made first. Once a country with strong transportation networks is built and an innovative country is completed, a great modern socialist country will have strategic support.
Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the national transportation industry has implemented the new development philosophy, united as one and fulfilled its mission, fully played the role of a pioneer, and achieved a major leap in transportation development from “overall alleviation” to “basic adaptation,” laying a solid foundation for our country to move from a major transportation country to a transportation power.
Among these, high-speed rail, a link where China’s railway development was relatively weak in the past, rose strongly during these five years, quickly opening the era of “flying close to the ground,” and also went abroad, becoming the country’s brightest calling card. The steady development of high-speed rail and the praise it has received from the Chinese people are due to the independent innovation strength of China’s railways. Only by grasping the key of technological innovation and making the right first move in technological innovation has China taken firm strides toward becoming a high-speed rail power.
Taking China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group as an example, since the 1990s, it has carried out 208 scientific research projects in combination with engineering practice, with cumulative investment of 170 million yuan, applied for more than 300 high-speed rail patents, and led or participated in the formulation of 42 specifications and standards.
The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China issued a mobilization order for building a country with strong transportation networks, which is both inspiring and makes those of us in transportation feel a heavy responsibility. Moving from a major transportation country to a transportation power means following the development goals of safety, convenience, efficiency, and green development, shifting the connotation of a transportation power from engineering construction to management and services, and from scale and speed to quality and efficiency, so that engineering construction becomes more intensive, operation management more intelligent, and transportation services more humanized.
Reporter: What do we need to rely on to achieve the goal of building a country with strong transportation networks?
Zhu Dan: At present, a new round of global scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is gathering momentum, and new technologies such as the Internet, artificial intelligence, and new energy are taking the lead in the transportation field. Without innovation, one will inevitably fall behind. Only by taking innovation as the primary driving force can we change lanes and overtake, catch up, and achieve a historic leap from “following” to “running in parallel” and “leading” in the new journey of building a country with strong transportation networks.
To this end, we must base ourselves on the reform of the national science and technology system and the needs of industry development, broaden our vision, face difficulties head-on, understand the urgency of technological innovation from new macro policy arrangements, judge the direction of technological innovation from the new situation of urbanization, and recognize our own shortcomings from the enterprise’s scientific and technological position; we must combine market needs, highlight key points, strengthen collaborative innovation and comprehensive innovation, highlight the concept of “big transportation,” improve and upgrade existing technology systems, strive to make breakthroughs in emerging technology fields, and comprehensively enhance the enterprise’s core scientific and technological strength.
In particular, in the process of urbanization, integrated transportation construction is receiving increasing attention. Whoever masters the planning and design technology for integrated transportation will seize the initiative. New industries such as utility tunnels, sponge cities, and prefabricated buildings are also developing continuously, and environmental protection industries such as green development, waterlogging prevention, and sewage discharge will receive more attention and have huge development potential.
In accordance with the requirements of “meeting different functions, enhancing existing capacity, and strengthening maintenance services,” we must systematically deepen research on regional transportation planning technologies such as high-speed railways, intercity railways, suburban railways, urban rail transit, and water transport, form a complete set of integrated transportation planning technologies, and at the same time increase technological research and reserve strength for new types of rail transit such as maglev, straddle-type monorail, and trams, explore underground space development planning and urban congestion relief technologies, build a complete design technology system of “port + logistics park + railway dedicated line,” and strengthen basic applied research in new business areas such as high-end bridge design, utility tunnels, sponge city construction, and hydraulic ports to enhance brand influence.
Building a country with strong transportation networks is an important support for achieving our country’s modernization goals, an inevitable requirement for meeting the people’s ever-growing needs for a better life, the only way to enhance development momentum, and a key area for implementing the innovation-driven development strategy. Facing a favorable development situation, we must seize opportunities, take the initiative, identify the right direction, deeply and solidly advance the research, development, and application of new technologies, and strive to make a difference and serve as pioneers.