The Information Office of the State Council will hold a press conference on Thursday,January 9, 2020 at 10:00 am, inviting the National Development and ReformCommission, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Transport, theEmergency Management Department, the National Railway Administration, the CivilAviation Administration of China, the China Railway The responsible comrade ofthe head office introduced the situation and work arrangements for the SpringFestival in 2020, and answered questions from reporters.

Xinhua News Agency:

We know that safety is the top priority of Spring Festivaltransportation. During the Spring Festival this year, what measures willthe relevant departments take to prevent safety accidents and do a good job ofsafety supervision? Provincial toll stations on the expressway have beencancelled for a week, and we want to know the operation of the pastweek. We have also seen rising tolls and traffic jams in someareas. What's your comment on this? Thank you

Wang Yang:

Thank you, Xinhua News Agency. Safety production has always been thelifeline of transportation, and it is also the top priority of transportationduring the Spring Festival. Therefore, during the Spring Festival, theMinistry of Transport will ensure greater safety and orderly travel of thepeople with greater determination, stricter standards and more practicalmeasures. The focus of work is two aspects: first, to strengthen thesafety supervision of the Spring Festival transport, urge localities toformulate work safety work plans, improve the responsibility for work safety,implement it to each post, each member, and decompose it into eachlink. At the same time, we will send three inter-departmental jointinspection teams, five industry inspection teams, and seven localcross-examination teams with the Emergency Management Department and the StateRailway Administration to inspect two passenger and dangerous vehicles on theLine 1 and rural passenger transportation. We will conduct in-depthinvestigations and surprise inspections on key bridges and tunnels, railtransit, 1 water line in 6 districts, and 4 main communicationlinks. Check coverage in all provinces except Tibet. On January 20,the Ministry of Transport will hold a conference call to issue specialrectification notices and rectification plans, name and notify the hiddendangers found during the inspection, and urge local governments to makelegislative changes.

On the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen emergency responsecapabilities and improve emergency plans, especially the working system foremergency management analysis, judgment, monitoring and early warning,information reporting and emergency linkage in severe winterweather. Strengthen emergency transportation capacity and materialreserves, timely release road network forecasts and early-warning informationthrough channels such as television broadcasts and the Internet, and guidelocal transportation authorities to make emergency preparations and reasonablyarrange travel. At the same time, the strict implementation of the 24-houron-duty and leadership system to coordinate and solve various problems.

Regarding the second question, let me talk briefly. Provincial tollstations have been cancelled for more than a week, and the country is watchingclosely. The abolition of toll stations at the provincial border ofexpressways is a major decision of the Party Central Committee and the StateCouncil. This task will be completed in two years and one year. Overthe past year, the national transportation system has made major breakthroughsin overcoming difficulties. Beginning at 00:00 on January 1, this year,all 487 highway toll stations nationwide have been cancelled, and a newnon-stop toll system has been put into operation. At present, 140,000kilometers of expressways across the country form a large-scale barrier-freetransportation network. In the initial stage of system switching, mainlyon January 1st and 2nd of this year, due to unfamiliarity, technicalinstability, etc., problems such as CPC card identification and charging amountdisplay errors occurred. With the continuous trial operation andimprovement of the system, the overall operation has been stable, orderly, andcontinuously improved over the past week. Statistics show that fromJanuary 1st to 7th this year, the total number of vehicles passing through theentire road network was 170 million, of which more than

We are also paying more attention to the issue of rising prices. Theproblems reflected are mainly concentrated on some truckdrivers. Regarding the toll collection method for trucks, the formerweight-based charging was changed to vehicle charging, which was explained byexperts before. Here I will explain it again. Prior to thecancellation of provincial toll stations, most expressways in China werecharged by weight, and trucks were charged by model rather than byweight. This is mainly conducive to realizing fast charging withoutstopping after trucks are installed with ETC, and accelerating the speed andefficiency of the logistics industry. At the same time, internationalpractice also adopts this method. In order to achieve a smooth transitionbetween old and new charging methods, the Ministry of Finance, in conjunctionwith the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry ofFinance, issued relevant documents to urge and guide localities to calculatetonnage based on the weighted average of road trucks and mileage in 2018 as animportant factor in determining vehicle charging standards. in accordancewith. There are two important requirements. It is necessary to ensurethat the overall burden of truck tolls does not increase. Under the standardstate, the emergency toll for the same toll model is not greater than thecentralized toll, and the tonnage corresponding to the new toll is reduced byat least 10% compared to the full tonnage at the time of weight tollcollection. Therefore, all localities have re-approved local chargingstandards in accordance with the principle of "two guarantees and onereduction or exemption".

In response to the community's concern about truck charging standards, onJanuary 5 this year, the transportation departments of various provincespublicized the government's website and toll stations to publicly announce thetruck charging standards in their administrative areas and accept social supervision. Therefore,according to the new charging method, tolls for vehicles with a gross vehicleweight exceeding the balance point will be reduced to varying degrees comparedto the past, but tolls for vehicles with a gross vehicle weight below the equilibriumpoint will increase. We advocate that trucks should do their best toincrease the actual loading rate and reduce the idle rate. Thank You

(Original title: State Information Office held a Spring Festival 2020 pressconference situation and work arrangements)