Appendix B Amplifying Questions

The following questions indicate the type of information that the U.S. delegation is interested in obtaining during our visit. We have organized the questions from the perspective of the professional responsibilities of the individuals we would like to talk to. In addition, we have listed primary questions, or questions we want to focus on during our visit, and secondary questions, or questions we would like to discuss if time permits or to obtain answers from other sources.

National Transportation Policy Officials

Primary Questions

1. Please briefly describe the relationship among the central government, provincial government, local government, and private freight operators as it relates to the movement of freight. Who owns and operates what part of the nation's freight transportation system? What does the national government regulate with respect to freight transportation (for example, vehicle requirements, pricing, etc.)? What is expected to be funded and operated by the government? By private companies?
2. Is there a national freight policy on transportation's role in economic development, mobility, and system investment? If so, what are the specific elements of this policy that relate to international trade and investment in the nation's transportation system? What does the policy say about the relative role and investment in harbors and seaports, railroads, highways, and inland water infrastructure? How are national decisions made on which mode or intermodal facilities will receive investment (for example, investing in highway versus rail, or one port versus another)? In what agency are these decisions made? Who is involved? How does the government provide for an integrated transport system in its decisionmaking process?
3. What are the most important economic and transportation factors influencing transportation system investment decisions? What performance measures are considered when making investment decisions (for example, reduce travel time, increase travel time reliability, reduce transportation cost, and create new jobs and economic opportunity in underserved parts of China)? Do you collect data on the performance of China's transportation system? If so, what data are collected?
4. How does China's transportation system accommodate freight and passenger traffic? Do they use the same infrastructure? Which takes priority in investment and operations? How is the decision made to invest in one type of transportation project (for example, for passenger movement) versus another that will provide greater benefit to freight movement?
5. How are trade and transportation policy coordinated? How is China's national transportation policy linked to a national energy policy, and what role does the freight sector play in this relationship?
6. To what extent are public-private partnerships and partnering agreements used to fund transportation infrastructure, particularly with financial equity arrangements? To what extent is private sector input included in determining what transportation investments are made?
7. What are the most challenging issues China faces on the movement of freight? What do you think will be the most challenging issues in the future (for example, 10 years from now)?
8. How are environmental considerations (for example, air quality and water quality) addressed when transportation investments are made? Similarly, how are community concerns (for example, urban development and land use) addressed when such investments are made?

Secondary Questions

1. Is there a widespread understanding of the importance of freight transportation and support for major freight infrastructure projects at all levels of government?
2. From a pricing standpoint, how competitive is truck compared with rail and river transport? Does the government play a role in determining these prices or is the market deregulated?
3. When investments are made, do the calculations provide estimates of the cost to maintain in the future?
4. What other factors (such as the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing) are driving the nation's transportation policy and investment strategies?
5. So that you may best export goods to U.S. customers, what changes in U.S. infrastructure would you like to see occur? What level of Chinese investment in U.S. transportation infrastructure do you foresee?
6. Are certain revenue sources dedicated exclusively to transportation at the national, provincial, or local levels? If so, please describe. Does the national government have a dedicated capital budget for major transportation investments or are investments by the government treated as part of the general budget?

National Transportation Planning and Engineering Officials

Primary Questions

1. For China's highway network:
   • Please describe China's national highway investment plan. What steps are being taken to improve China's road network (for example, new highways serving major ports)?
   • Do you separate local and passenger traffic from freight traffic to and from your ports?
   • Have you or are you planning to develop lanes or highways dedicated exclusively to truck traffic? If so, are they for port connectors, bypasses to urban congestion, or longer segments of the highway system?
   • How do you determine truck size and weight limits to protect your road infrastructure investment? How do you enforce those limits?
   • What are the key challenges facing the movement of freight by highway?
   • When investments are made, do the calculations provide estimates of the cost to maintain in the future?
2. For China's rail network:
   • Please describe China's national rail investment plan. Is there a policy to attain a certain share of freight movement by rail?
   • What steps are being taken to improve China's rail network (for example, investing in rail lines to allow double stacking of containers or separating passenger and freight rail lines)?
   • What rail investments are being made to improve rail access to your export-import ports?
   • What percentage of your total rail freight traffic is intermodal (that is, uses containers)?
   • Will your new rail lines be completely grade separated?
   • When investments are made, do the calculations provide estimates of the cost to maintain in the future?
   • What are the key challenges facing the movement of freight by rail?
3. For China's inland water system:
   • Please describe China's national inland water system investment plan. Is there a policy to attain a certain share of freight movement by water? What steps are being taken to improve the nation's inland water network (for example, investing in inland intermodal ports or improving river navigation)? How important is your inland water system for both container and bulk freight movement in the future?
   • What inland water investments are being made to improve water transport access to your export and import ports?
   • Do you see coastal shipping (that is, from one Chinese port to another) as an important element of your future freight transportation system?
   • When investments are made, do the calculations provide estimates of the cost to maintain in the future?
   • What are the key challenges facing the movement of freight by river and canal?
   • Who is responsible for maintaining navigation channels and how it is being funded?
4. How long does it take to move a major freight infrastructure investment from the original proposal to completion? What are the major planning and project development steps followed in this process?
   • How do you balance investment in access corridor versus intermodal terminal needs? Line-haul versus distribution systems? Urban versus rural regional needs?

Secondary Questions

1. Do you have a national database that describes the flow of freight on the different modes of transportation? What kind of national freight data does this database include? At what level of geographic detail do you collect data–national, provincial, local? Are data required from private operators of port terminals and other freight carriers?
2. How do you link information on port traffic to decisions on investment in landside transportation?
3. Are there opportunities for sharing data on freight traffic between the United States and China that would benefit both?
4. What types of new technologies are being considered for the movement of freight (for example, magnetically levitating (maglev) trains, innovative port handling systems, etc.)?
5. Do you use a national freight transport model to predict future freight flows? If so, what kind of modeling tool do you use?
6. To what extent are vehicles standardized in the country? For example, are all heavy trucks designed to the same standard and weight limitations? Rail cars? Barges? Do you have hours-of-service regulations for truck drivers? Do truck size and weight standards affect distribution center activity?
7. Can you provide examples in which investment has been made in the nation's freight system to minimize or eliminate the need to transfer freight from one mode of transportation to another?
8. What projections of future growth are you using for freight volumes and passenger traffic? To what degree are you separating domestic and international movements? For international trade, how are export-versus-import considerations taken into account? To what extent are your projections broken out geographically, international (global versus regional) versus domestic perspectives? How are these projections used in transportation investment decisions?

Provincial, Municipal, and Port Government Officials

Primary Questions

1. What are the most important economic and transportation factors influencing transportation system investment decisions in your jurisdiction? What performance measures are considered when making investment decisions (for example, reduce travel time, increase travel time reliability, reduce transportation cost, and create new jobs and economic opportunity in underserved parts of your jurisdiction)?
2. Do you have a policy or plan that relates to transportation's role in economic development, mobility, and transportation system investment? If so, how is freight movement included in this policy? What does the policy or plan say about the relative role and investment in harbors and seaports, railroads, highways, and inland water infrastructure? How are decisions made on which freight facilities will receive investment? How does your agency provide for an integrated transport system perspective in its decisionmaking process?
3. Is your transportation system designed to accommodate both freight and passenger traffic? Do they use the same infrastructure? Which takes priority in investment and operations? How is the decision made to invest in one type of transportation project (for example, for passenger movement) versus another that will provide greater benefit to freight movement?
4. How are environmental considerations (for example, air quality and water quality) considered when transportation investments are made? Similarly, how are community concerns (for example, urban development and land use) considered when such investments are made? To what extent is port development integrated into the community's development plan?
5. How are provincial, municipal, and port freight transportation projects funded? To what extent are public-private partnerships and partnering agreements being used to fund transportation infrastructure, particularly with financial equity arrangements? To what extent is private sector input included in determining what transportation investments are made?
6. What are the most challenging issues your jurisdiction or government faces on the movement of freight? What do you think will be the most challenging issues in the future (for example, 10 years from now)?

Secondary Questions

1. What types of projects are you considering to improve land access to your port? For example, are you building new port access roads? New barge facilities?
2. Is there a widespread understanding of the importance of freight transportation and support for major freight infrastructure projects among officials in your jurisdiction?
3. For port officials, how do you link information on port traffic and expected movements to decisions on investment in landside transportation?
4. How long does it take to move a major freight infrastructure investment from the original proposal to completion? What are the major planning and project development steps followed in this process?

Freight Carriers, Terminal Operators, and Shippers

Primary Questions

1. Generally, what is the role of foreign investment in intermodal freight facilities? Ownership? Construction? Operations? For a new intermodal freight terminal or facility or a major expansion of an existing one, who has general responsibility for and pays for the following:
   • Planning?
   • Design and construction?
   • Operations?
   If government funds are used to support these activities, are the funds dedicated solely to that purpose?
2. What are the underlying ownership arrangements for the transportation modes that serve intermodal facilities (rail, trucking, barges, etc.)? The intermodal facility itself? The surrounding land? The individual equipment components (chassis, etc.)?
3. In the siting of freight intermodal terminals or other freight-related facilities, to what degree are national, provincial, or municipal land use planning objectives taken into account? How are projects linked to the plans and activities of surrounding communities? Similarly, how are environmental concerns addressed in building and expanding facilities? What is the process for identifying and remediating any adverse environmental and community impacts that would be produced by the facility?
4. What are the key factors that drive intermodal facility capacity design? How is freight "surge" accommodated? Has there been any consideration of using departure control strategies to minimize congestion at the port? To what extent do security concerns affect facility productivity?
5. To what extent are you included in the decision-making process on changes to landside access, both rail and highway, for the terminals you operate?
6. What expectations are you under to operate your facilities 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to maximize use of the existing infrastructure?

Secondary Questions

1. What is the transport mode split in freight moving to this facility (that is, what percentage arrives by inland water, rail, or highway)? In your opinion, what are the key factors in the decision to access your facility by each access mode? In other words, why does some freight come by train and other by truck?
2. To what extent is freight demand being directed or modified though the application of user charges (fees or tolls)? Are such charges limited to those applied to transport carriers (for example, tolls for trucks), or are they also being imposed on users of the intermodal facility (for example, a per container fee)?
3. How would differences in labor rules and expectations, safety, and security procedures account for differences in productivity at different intermodal facilities?
4. What kind of a benefit-cost analysis is done to determine whether the facility is justified?
5. What are the major benefits associated with investment in this intermodal facility? Access to labor? Better access and handling capacity to final markets? Improved financial performance? Minimized shipper costs? Enhanced freight handling productivity?
6. What performance measures are used to monitor the performance of the intermodal facility (for example, productivity measures, delay, etc.)? How are data collected in support of these performance measures? How are reliability, travel time, throughput, cost, or environmental impacts measured and considered?
7. To what extent has automated data collection been designed into terminal operations? What freight movement or vehicle tracking capabilities are available? If there are such systems, how widely are they used?