This subject paper is intended to be a research paper on the results of studies or surveys from government land private sectors that are pertinent to the subject on Regional and Hong Kong's Transport Network Planning Framework. The views and analyses as contained in this paper are intended to stimulate public discussion and input to the planning process of the "HK2030 Study" and do not imply endorsement of the HKSARG. WORKING PAPER NO. 21 REGIONAL AND HONG KONG'S TRANSPORT NETWORK PLANNING FRAMEWORK Introduction 1. Railways and expressways are the main arteries of cities. They are the backbones to facilitate movements of goods and people. The prosperity and growth of a city depend very much on the efficient operation and development of its circulation systems. 2. This paper gives an overview of the existing and future strategic transport network in particular road and railway infrastructure in the Guangdong Province of the Mainland China 1. It also examines the present and future development of our Hong Kong's transport network in order to set the basic framework for planning an integrated transport system in the next stage of the study. Regional Transport Network I. Guangdong Province A. Road Infrastructure Exisitng Road Infrastrucutre 3. To accelerate the modernisation of transportation in China, in the early 1990s, the Ministry of Transportation put forward a strategic and ambitious distribution plan for the national trunk road system. Highways in China can be classified into 6 technical categories. They are expressway, Class I to IV Highways and others. According to the Guangdong Statistical Bureau (Table 1), there were a total of about 95,610km of roads covering the Guangdong Province in 1999, of which 953 km (1%) were expressway and 17,199km (18%) were Classes I and II highways. Comparing with the highway infrastructure in 1990, the Guangdong highway network has remarkably expanded by about 1.74 times from 54,671km. 4. In 1999, excluding expressway, the highway networks of the two main cities, Guangzhoushi (廣州) and Shenzhenshi (深圳), had a total length of about 5,543km, of which 4,378km (79%) were distributed in Guangzhoushi and 1,165 km (21%) in Shenzhenshi. 5. Since Guangzhoushi is the provincial capital of the Guangdong Province, it is the major transport interchanging point. At present, there are about 6 main national highways connecting between Guangzhoushi and other major muncipals in Guangdong (Figure 1). They include national highway Routes 105, 106, 107, 321, 324 and 325. Routes 105, 106 and 107 are the main highways connecting areas in the north and northeast with Guangzhoushi while Routes 105 and 107 are extended to link up with Zhuhaishi (珠海) and Shenzhenshi in the south respectively. Routes 321 and 324 are the main east-west corridor connecting Shantoushi (汕頭) in the east and Yunfushi (雲浮) in the west. Routes 205 and 325 are the other major national highways serving the north-east and south-west regions respectively. In addition, there are Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway (廣深高速公路), Guangzhou-Zhuhai East Line (廣珠東 高速公路) - part of the Beijing-Zhuhai line (京珠 ), Guangzhou-Foshan Expressway (廣佛高速公路), Guangzhou-Qingyuan Expressway (廣清高速公路) serving the Guangdong Province. Other expressways include Shenzhen-Shantou Expressway (深汕高速公路) - Tongsan (Eastern Section) line (同三東 ), Western Coastal Expressway (西部沿海高速公路), Foshan-Kaiping Expressway (佛開高速公路), etc. 6. Major road infrastructure projects completed in recent years include the widening of Guangzhou-Foshan Expressway from 4 lanes to 6 and 8 lanes, Beijing-Zhuhai Expressway (part) (54km), Guangzhou Ring Road (廣州環城高速公路) (27km). 7. Besides, the Macau Special Administrative Region (SAR) and Zhuhaishi is connected with a road bridge (Lotus Bridge) which has been in operation since late 2000. Planning of Road Infrastructure 8. In the light of the China's accession to the World Trade Organisation, the special geographic location of Guangdong Province as the gateway of Southern China and the preferential treatment to economic zones, the economic activities in the region in particular Pearl River Delta would continue to prosper. The Guangdong Government has laid down the following principles for road development in the region: z To build an inter-province expressway system; z To improve the quality of road network system by reforming the trunk road system as well as the district highway framework; and z To enhance accessibility by further promoting road construction works in the rural and less affluent areas. 9. According to the recently promulgated "Shenzhen Comprehensive Transport and Railway Plan (2001-2025)" from the Shenzhen Urban Planning and Land Resources Bureau, the major road transport development principles in Shenzhenshi are as follows: z To build a strategic road network system, mainly on expressways, for boundary and external links, in particular, speeding up the construction of road links at Huanggang, Western Corridor and Eastern Corridor to facilitate freight movements between Shenzhenshi and Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and to divert freight traffic away from the city centre; z To provide convenient public transport corridor to link up the city centre with other sub-regional centres, for example, the provision of bus only lane; z To promote walking by providing landscaped walkway environment so as to realize the concept of "Green City, Green Lane" (城在園中、路在園中); and z To promote the use of intelligent transport system. Future Possible Road Infrastructure Projects Guangdong Province/Guangzhoushi 10. Under the "Tenth Five-year Plan" (2000-2005), the Guangdong Authority would expand its road infrastructure system by more than 5000 km including the construction of a number of new expressways with a total length of about 1,400 km. Major road projects include Beijing-Zhuhai Line (京珠線) connecting areas in the north with Zhuhaishi in the south via Guangzhoushi, Guangzhou-Wuzhou Expressway (廣梧高速公路) to areas in the west, Tongsan (Western Section) Line (同三西 ) to Zhanjiangshi (湛江) in the southwest, Guangzhou-Huizhou Expressway (廣惠高速公路) to Huizhoushi (惠州) in the east, Shenzhen Western Corridor (深圳灣大橋) to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) etc. Some of the major road projects are shown in Figure 2 and Table 2. Shenzhenshi 11. It is planned that the highway network of Shenzhenshi will continue to expand and reach about 1,800 km in 2010. At present, the proposed Shenzhen Western Corridor (深圳灣大橋) is one of the major road works in Shenzhenshi. The Shenzhen Western Corridor will connect Shekou (蛇口) with the north-west New Territorities of the HKSAR and will be the main boundary crossing point in the western part of Shenzhenshi. An outer ring road is also proposed to divert traffic away from the city centre. 12. In addition to the current three vehicular boundary crossing points at Lok Ma Chau (Huanggang), Man Kam To and Sha Tau Kok together with the proposed Shenzhen Western Corridor crossing point, the Shenzhen Authority is now considering a fifth crossing point at Liantang (蓮塘), an area to the east of Man Kam To, for container trucks and goods vehicles. Its prime functions are to facilitate the fast growing cross-boundary traffic movement and to alleviate the adverse environmental impacts caused by the cross-boundary vehicles, the majority of them are container trucks and goods vehicles. 13. To reduce the potential adverse environmental impacts and traffic problems generated from the cross boundary goods vehicles upon Shenzhenshi city centre, Shenzhen Authority is now formulating a road infrastructure framework which follows the "East in East out, West in West out" (東進東出，西進西出) concept. To this end, additional road infrastructure has been proposed to connect with these crossing points. In the east, special road link at Liantang was proposed to connect with Eastern Coastal Expressway (東部沿海高速公路), Shenzhen-Shantou Expressway (深汕高速公路) and Shenzhen-Huizhou Expressway (深惠 高速公路) to facilitate goods vehicles travelling between HKSAR and the eastern regions of the Guangdong Province such as Yantian (鹽田) container port, Shantoushi (汕頭) and Huizhoushi (惠州). Existing roads to the north of Huanggang (皇崗) - Lok Ma Chau will be enhanced and connected with Meiguan Expressway (梅觀高速公路). In the west, new roads will be built to link up the proposed Shenzhen Western Corridor and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen Expressway (廣深高速公路). The proposed road links are shown in Figure 3. B. Railway Infrastructure Existing Railway Network 14. The backbone of the Guangdong railway network is composed of sections of Beijing-Guangzhou line (京廣鐵路), Guangzhou- Kowloon line (廣九鐵路), Guangzhou-Meizhou-Shantou line (廣梅汕鐵路), Beijing-Kowloon line (京九鐵路) and Sanshui- Maoming line (三茂鐵路). Existing major railway lines are shown in Figure 4. z Beijing-Guangzhou line (about 320 km falling within the Guangdong province) is the major railway line linking major cities between Guangdong, Beijing and other provinces in the north such as Hunan (湖南). z Guangzhou-Kowloon line (about 179 km) is basically an extension of the Beijing-Guangzhou line connecting Guangzhoushi and the HKSAR via Shenzhenshi. In order to enhance the railway capacity and service levels, electrification on the Third Guangzhou-Shenzhen Line was completed in 2000. z Guangzhou-Meizhou-Shantou line (about 480km) mainly serves the eastern part of the province, from Changping (常平) station of Guangzhou-Kowloon line, passing through Huizhou (惠州) and Heyuan (河源) to Shantoushi (汕頭). z Beijing-Kowloon line is the second railway serving areas between the northern China and the HKSAR. It runs parallel to the Beijing-Guangzhou line and joins the Guangzhou-Meizhou-Shantou line at Longchuan (龍川) station. z Sanshui-Maoming line mainly serves the western part of the province. It connects Guangzhoushi in the east and Zhanjiangshi (湛江) in the west. 15. The total mileage of railways has considerably expanded by about 60% from 1,287 km in 1990 to 2,022 km in 1999 (Table 3). Although the share of passenger traffic by rail was only 11% (about 76 million of passenger) in 1999, railway still plays a dominant role in freight transport.