As a vital national transport hub, Henan lies at the heart of China, embraced by the surging Yellow River and the towering Taihang Mountains. It is weaving an intricate transportation network and writing a new legend of connectivity across ten provinces.

Here, the nation's first "rice-shaped" high-speed rail network has proudly taken shape. All 17 prefecture-level cities are now connected by high-speed rail, enabling travel to regions encompassing over 53% of the country's population within three hours. The 2,263-kilometer high-speed rail lines act like silver threads, linking the Central Plains with vast territories across the nation. The expressway mileage has reached 8,962 kilometers and is expected to exceed 10,000 kilometers by the end of the year. Over 80% of counties are served by dual expressways, and 51 national highways traverse the province, forming a "golden network" of land transportation.

The "Air Silk Road" cuts across the skies, with Zhengzhou Xinzheng International Airport handling over 825,000 tons of cargo and mail in 2024, consistently ranking among the world's top 40 cargo airports for multiple years. The "Air Silk Road" connects more than 200 cities globally, with 62 all-cargo flights serving as an "aerial bridge" to the world. The Huai River and Shaying River, two navigable waterways leading to the sea, meander through the region. Zhoukou Port has become a major national inland river port, and the Huaibin Port Area of Xinyang Port has commenced operations. The annual container throughput of inland river ports has exceeded 100,000 TEUs, transforming what was once an inland hinterland into a region accessible to rivers and seas.

From the "four main and multiple auxiliary" railway passenger transport hub in Zhengzhou to the airport network structured around "1 hub, 4 feeder lines, and 9 general aviation airports"; from the 34 Yellow River bridges—including those along the Zhengji High-Speed Rail—connecting north and south, to the annual shipment of 189,000 TEUs via rail-sea intermodal trains, Henan has used transportation as its brush to paint a magnificent picture of "connecting all directions and linking the world" across the Central Plains.

Today, Henan's transportation development has injected strong momentum into regional coordinated development, steadily turning the vision of "smooth travel for people and unimpeded flow for goods" into reality.

Web editors: Shen Jianqi, Li Siyao