Transportation

Road & Highway

According to the annual Statistical Communiqué on Hunan’s Economic and Social Development, by the end of 2022, the total highway mileage amounted to 242,400 kilometers, 0.2% longer than that at the end of previous year. Among which, the expressway mileage increased 247 kilometers to 7.33 kilometers. Railway mileage totaled 6,078 kilometers, among which high-speed railway mileage reached 2,408 kilometers.

There are 25 expressway accesses to adjacent provinces. All expressway toll booths at provincial borders were cancelled. A two-hour province-wide high-speed railway transport circle has been developed, and Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou can be reached within 5, 4, 3, and 2 hours. All of the Hunan’s 122 counties and cities can connect with expressways in half an hour.

Ports 

Hunan is a water province, centering on the Dongting Lake and including the Xiangjiang, Zijiang, Yuanjiang and Lishui trunk rivers. A complex water network links up the whole province. Total inland waterway mileage hit 12,000 km, ranking third nationwide. The thousand-ton-and-above waterways reached 1,139 km, with 112 thousand-ton-and-above berths.  

The Chenglingji Port in Yueyang is the only deepwater harbor connecting the rivers and the seas along Yangtze River in Hunan Province. The seagoing vessels with a capacity of 10,000 tons can go directly to the port. Up to 2025, the port’s designed annual container throughput will reach 800,000 FEUs, making it a competitive leading port along the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River over Chongqing and Wuhan. It also has direct routes to Hong Kong and Macao, and can transfer to maritime transport to ASEAN countries and Australia.  

Chenglingji Port of Yueyang has been officially included in the first batch of designated ports for imported grain in China, and was the first authorized finished vehicles import port in central China, with its first batch of vehicles being approved for licensing on March 1st, 2016.

Changsha New Port has seven regional branch routes for international containers, and has initiated over 10 international routes to Korea, Japan, West of America, Europe, Australia, Africa, East of South America, and Mediterranean. The port has over 40 liners for import and export of international containers. As they enter the Xiangjiang River, freights are shipped to base ports all over the world via Shanghai port in Yangtze River. In this manner, an advantageous waterway network system, spreading globally and reaching various rivers and oceans, is established covering over 60% of load/ unload of containers in regional branch routes of Changsha and central Hunan. Within the single July of 2013, the container throughput of the port reaches 9,725, a year-on-year growth of 20%. Currently, the third phase of construction is under progress in Changsha New Port, whose annual throughput is expected to reach 10 million tons after the implementation.

Aviation  

The 372 operational civil air routes connect Hunan with 142 domestic and international airports in five continents.

Hunan has completed takeoffs and landings of 205,000 flights in 2020, with a passenger throughput of 23.569 million and a cargo and mail throughput of 195,000 tons. The figures were higher than the six central provinces' average. 

Changsha Huanghua Airport opened in 1989, and was renamed Changsha Huanghua International Airport in 1993. In the first five months of 2023, Changsha Huanghua International Airport has handled more than 10 million passenger trips, becoming the first airport in the central region of China to pass the threshold this year. Currently, Changsha leads central China in operating routes to 10 international cities, including London, Nairobi, Bangkok, and Seoul. 

Zhangjiajie Hehua Airport opened to air traffic in 1994, and was renamed Zhangjiajie Hehua International Airport in 2017. In 2020, the airport handled 13,000 takeoffs and landings, with a passenger throughput of 1.278 million. It opened its first all-cargo international route in April 2021.  

Changde Taohuayuan Airport opened its first direct flight to Bangkok in December 2019, and thus became Hunan's third international airport. By 2019, it has 13 air routes linking with 19 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, with more than 200 flights operated every week. It has become one of China's regional airports with annual passenger throughput of more than one million.

Hengyang Nanyue Airport opened to air traffic in December 2014. 

In 2019, both Changde and Hengyang airports saw a passenger throughput of more than one million.

Yueyang Sanhe Airport was officially opened to traffic in December 2018. It has introduced four airlines, including Juneyao Air, Chengdu Airlines, and Chongqing Airlines; and, operated flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Kunming, Chongqing, Guiyang, Hangzhou, Nanning, Xiamen, Qingdao, Harbin, Jinan, Weihai, and Zhoushan. As of October 2019, it has operated 4,588 flights, with an overall passenger load factor exceeding 81%. A total of 465,000 passenger trips have been handled, ranking fifth among Hunan’s airports.

Chenzhou Beihu Airport officially opened to air traffic on September 16, 2021. Two air routes – Chenzhou-Beijing (Daxing Airport), and Shanghai-Chenzhou-Beihai – were opened firstly, with four flights operated every week for each route.

Railway

Hunan has a developed railway system. Seven main railway lines – Jingguang (Beijing-Guangzhou), Hukun (Shanghai-Kunming), Xiangqian (Zhuzhou-Guiyang), Zhegan (Hangzhou-Zhuzhou), Xianggui (Hunan-Guangxi), Shichang (Shimenxian-Changsha), and Jiaoliu (Jiaozuo-Liuzhou) railways, pass through the province.

During the 13th Five-year Plan period, Hunan has built 991 km of new railway. The total mileage of operational railway reached 5,582 km, among which the mileage of high-speed railway was 1,986 km, ranking third nationwide. Twelve cities and prefecture can be reached through railway.

The north-south Beijing-Guangzhou High-speed Railway, a key part of Chinese "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed railway network, and the world's longest high-speed rail, runs through Hunan. Its Wuhan-Guangzhou section (Wuguang High-speed Railway) opened to traffic in December 2009. It shortened the journey from Changsha to Wuhan to one hour, to Guangzhou two hours, and to Beijing five hours. 

Hukun (Shanghai to Kunming) High-speed Railway went into operation on December, 2014. It reduced travel time between Changsha and Shanghai to 4 hours and 26 minutes, and that between Changsha and Hangzhou to 3 hours and 38 minutes.

Yuchangxia (Chongqing-Changsha-Xiamen) High-speed Railway, a part of Chinese "Eight Vertical and Eight Horizontal" railway network, has three sections in Hunan – Qianjiang (Chongqing)-Zhangjiajie-Changde, Chengde-Yiyang-Changsha, and Changsha-Ganzhou (Jiangxi Province). The Changsha-Ganjiang section is on preliminaries. The Qianjiang-Zhangjiajie-Changde section started trial operation in November, 2019.  

The Zhangjiajie-Jishou-Huaihua (Zhangjihuai) High-speed Railway opened to traffic on December 6, 2021. Hence, the travel time between Zhangjiajie and Changsha is shortened to 2.5 hours. It is a regional link in China’s "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed rail network. It starts from western Hunan, linking with Qianjiang-Zhangjiajie High-speed Railway in the north and Shanghai-Kunming High-speed and Huaihua-Shaoyang-Hengyang railways in the south. The railway connects several well-known scenic areas, such as Wulingyuan, Tianmen Mountain, Furong Town, Aizhai Grand Bridge, and Fenghuang Ancient Town, and is thus reputed as the “most beautiful high-speed railway in western Hunan”.

Metro Lines 

Changsha Metro Line 2, the first and a core line of east-west rail transit in Changsha, was open to traffic in December 2013. It runs through 3 passenger hubs of the city (West Station of Changsha, Changsha Railway Station and Changsha South Railway Station) and 4 passenger flow collector-distributor centers (Yinwanzhen, Wuyi Square, Furong Square and Yuanjialing). The underground line stretches as long as 22.262 kilometers, consisting of 19 stations, among which 6 are transfer stations.
Changsha Metro Line 2 westward extension began operation in 2015 end，extending from Wangchengpo Station to Meixi Lake area, which adds the total distance of Metro Line 2 to 26.579 km. (Find more info at "Celebrating the Opening of Changsha Metro Line 2" >>) 

Metro Line 1 (PhaseⅠ), Changsha’s second subway line, starts from Kaifu District Government Station in the north, and ends up at Shangshuangtang Station in the south. It was started construction at the end of 2010, and has been put into trail operation since June 29, 2016. (Find more info at "Congratulations on the Opening of Changsha Metro Line 1" >>) 

Metro Line 4 (PhaseⅠ), Changsha’s third subway line, began construction in late 2014, and opens to trial operation on May 26, 2019. It connects the east and west banks of the Xiangjiang River, and is an important part of Changsha’s “Union Jack” shaped subway plan. (Find more info at “Changsha Metro Line 4” >>) 

Line 3 (PhaseⅠ) runs from southwest to northeast, connecting Yuelu, Tianxin, Yuhua, Furong, Kaifu Districts, and Changsha County. It started trial run in December 30, 2019, and trial operation on June 28, 2020 

Line 5 (PhaseⅠ) runs from north to south, with a total length of 22.5km. It was put into trial operation on June 28, 2020.(Find more info at “Changsha Metro Line 3 & 5”>>) 

Line 6 has the longest span and the most transfer stations, and covers the widest areas in Changsha. The line runs through Wangcheng, Yuelu, Kaifu, Furong, Yuhua Districts, and Changsha County, and has 12 transfer stations connecting it with the existing 5 subway lines.. It is Changsha’s only subway line that can directly reach the Huanghua International Airport terminals. It opened to traffic on June 28, 2022. (Find more info at “Changsha Metro Line 6”>>)