Transport sector on the road to lower emissions

The development of green transport facilities and infrastructure has demonstrated the transport sector's resolve to reduce carbon emissions, echoing China's determination to achieve peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and carbon neutrality before 2060.

In the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, the world's first 120-metric-ton alternating current electrical tipper truck for mining made its debut at the Nanlutian mine on July 22.

The truck, which can work for eight hours after one hour of charging, replaces a diesel engine with batteries.

Compared with diesel trucks, electrical power cuts energy consumption in half, and reduces the costs of operation and maintenance by 20 percent.

Each truck can also reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1,500 tons per year, according to the Inner Mongolia branch of State Power Investment Corp, which is leading the program.

"The truck is a significant milestone in the upgrading of mining equipment. It is intelligent and zero-carbon, and will set an example for others in the industry," said Liu Jianping, Party secretary and chairman of the branch.

The Nanlutian mine will gradually replace all its diesel-powered dump trucks with electric ones, to promote green, low-carbon, environmentally friendly production in the coal mining industry, the company said.

In Hubei province, workers were busy outfitting the world's largest electric-drive cruise ship last month, preparing for a trial voyage at the end of this year.

Hull construction was completed recently in a shipbuilding industrial park in Yichang, Hubei, in a step toward providing more options in the green growth of transportation on the Yangtze River.

The Changjiang San Xia 1, which is 100 meters long and 16.3 meters wide, will mainly operate on the Yangtze, Asia's longest river. It will be able to accommodate more than 1,300 passengers.

Tan Qisheng, chairman of Yichang Xinhui Ship Repair, which is building the ship, said the vessel will have a power drive battery with a capacity of 7,500 kilowatt-hours－equivalent to the total drive battery capacity of more than 100 all-electric vehicles－as well as other advanced technologies and equipment.

The ship is the first all-electric ship in the world to adopt a system of high-voltage charging and low-voltage power supplement.

Unlike traditional electric vessels, the ship will use clean hydropower energy, and it can travel more than 100 kilometers on one charge, helping save 530 tons of fuel oil every year.

The ship can also help reduce emissions of harmful gases by 1,660 tons a year, improving the level of green transportation in Yichang, which is in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River.

In Shandong province, engineers recently started to assemble prefabricated components to build a high-speed railway connecting Zhengzhou, Henan province, and Jinan, Shandong's provincial capital.

China Railway Design Corp, the railway's designer, said the prefabricated components were made in a factory and will be assembled on site.

Zuo Jiaqiang, deputy chief engineer of its civil engineering department, said traditional techniques usually leave a gap between the prefabricated parts and use concrete to seal the parts on site. New structural technology has been adopted in the Zhengzhou-Jinan high-speed railway to abandon using concrete on site, which is a first in a Chinese high-speed railway project and more environmentally friendly.

Transport Minister Li Xiaopeng said the ministry has improved policies, enhanced technological innovation, strengthened inspections and improved services to boost green development.

He added that low-carbon transport facilities are being encouraged.

Hu Zucai, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, said the promotion of low-carbon activities in the transport sector is an important part of the national carbon reduction campaign.

He added the ministry and the commission are working to draw up detailed plans.