China Exports of HSR, Trains, Metro, Tram, Rolling Stocks, etc: News

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Kenya's Chinese-funded railway line a game-changer
CGTN Africa
Published on May 31, 2018

Kenya's Madaraka Express has celebrated its first anniversary. The Chinese-funded railway line has spurred economic growth, [TAKE VO] creating employment opportunities for thousands of Kenyans. It has also eased road traffic congestion, providing a fast and reliable mode of transport between Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa. The project cost more than 3-hundred and 20-billion dollars. China's Exim bank provided 90 percent of the financing.

 

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Chinese company to conduct feasibility study for Bangladesh's first high speed railway project
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-01 01:12:13|Editor: mmm


DHAKA, May 31 (Xinhua) -- The Bangladeshi government has relied on a Chinese engineering giant to conduct a feasibility study and carry out detailed design for construction of the 230-km high-speed railway from capital Dhaka to seaport city Chittagong, officially known as Chattogram.

The proposed Dhaka-Chattogram rail route is set to be the first stretch to be explored for the Bangladesh Railway sector's first high-speed railway project.

Bangladesh Railway Thursday signed an agreement with China Railway Design Corporation (CRDC) to conduct the feasibility study and detailed design.

Md Quamrul Ahsan, project director, and the authorized representative of CRDC, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective sides here on Thursday.

According to the agreement, the feasibility study and detail design work will be completed within 18 months.

The Chinese consultant firm, in cooperation with Bangladesh Railway and Mazumder Enterprise, a Bangladeshi consultancy firm, will conduct the feasibility study.

At the signing ceremony, Bangladeshi Railway Minister M. Mazibul Hoque said Dhaka-Chattogram railway is very important.

Upon fruition, it will cut the traveling time from Dhaka to Chattogram by two hours as the new route of the proposed high-speed train would reduce the distance between the country's two largest cities by about 90 km.

The train will run at a speed of 200 km per hour on the new rail link.

The existing Dhaka-Chattogram rail link runs for 320 km and it's a journey of seven to ten hours.

Officials said the preliminary work will be completed by 2019 and then the ministry will invite tender to construct the country's first high-speed railway.

With daily traffic of tens of thousands, Dhaka-Chattogram highway and rail way are the main transportation arteries in Bangladesh.

 

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China completes longest railway tunnel in Georgia
CGTN
Published on May 28, 2018

The construction of the longest tunnel in Georgia was completed on May 27, laying foundation for the future operation of the whole line. The project will be an indispensable part of the Chongqing-Xinjiang-Europe Railway route under the Belt and Road Initiative. It is expected to be accomplished in 2020. It will reduce travel time to three hours and twenty minutes from Tbilisi to the country's second-largest city Batumi.

 

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7 pct of construction of first section of Thailand-China high speed railway completed
Source: Xinhua| 2018-03-22 23:48:18|Editor: Liangyu

Photo taken on March 22, 2018 shows the construction site of Thailand-China High Speed Train project in Pak Chong, Thailand. Construction of the first section of Thailand-China High Speed Train project has been running smoothly, or 7 percent completed, Thanin Somboon, Director-General of Thailand's Department of Highways said on Thursday at the construction site here. (Xinhua/Rachen Sageamsak)

PAK CHONG, Thailand, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Construction of the first section of Thailand-China High Speed Train project has been running smoothly, or 7 percent completed, Thanin Somboon, Director-General of Thailand's Department of Highways said on Thursday at the construction site here.

The clearing and grubbing of the first 3.5-kilometer section is finished in the main, contributing to a 7 percent completion of the section, said Thanin at a press tour to where the project began last December.

"The highway department is confident to finish the 3.5-kilometer section within four months, or before August, once we are fully funded," said the director-general.

So far, the cooperation between China and Thailand has been going well, which would be a referential experience for the construction of future sections, Thanin emphasized.

Thailand and China jointly inaugurated the construction of Thailand's first high-speed railway from Bangkok to northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima, or the 253-km first phase of Thailand-China high speed railway last December.

Once completed, the railway with a maximum speed of 250 km per hour will be the first high-speed railway of Thailand.

Construction of Thai-Chinese high-speed rail to start fully next year: Thai official
Source: Xinhua 2018-06-03 00:27:43

BANGKOK, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The construction of a Thai-Chinese high-speed rail between Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima in northeastern Thailand is expected to get fully started early next year, following biddings later this year, said Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith on Friday.

Arkhom, who co-chaired the 24th meeting of the Joint Committee on Thailand-China Cooperation on Rail Project with Ning Jizhe, deputy head of China's National Development and Reform Commission, said the construction of the main sections of the first phase of the high-speed rail from Bangkok to northeastern province of Nakhon Ratchasima will start in March next year.

The entire 253-km route between Bangkok and Nakhon Ratchasima is divided into 14 sections, two of which are considered minor sections located in the northeastern province, including an initial 3.5-km-long section currently under construction between Klang Dong and Pang Asok stations, which started late last year.

Of the 12 main sections, six sections will be open to biddings in September this year, followed by the construction scheduled to begin in March next year, whereas the other six sections will be open to biddings in November this year, followed by the construction to begin in April next year, according to the transport minister.

Meanwhile, the 350-km high-speed rail between Nakhon Ratchasima and Nong Khai, which is facing the Lao capital Vientiane across Mekong River, will be implemented by Thailand with China acting as consultants in terms of feasibility study and design, Arkhom said.

The feasibility study and design are scheduled to be finished within this year so that the construction will begin next year, the minister noted, adding that they will work hard to make both phases, or the whole high-speed rail from Bangkok to Nong Khai, operational at the same time.

Another bridge across Mekong River will be built to accommodate the high-speed railway, which is designed to link southern China with Thailand through Laos.

 

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A leap forward! 1st subway line built by Chinese in Europe reports progress
New China TV
Published on Jun 4, 2018

Work will start on the drilling of the first tunnel for a subway line in the Russian capital of Moscow. The project is the first of its kind being built by a Chinese company in Europe.

 

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Chinese engineering firm breaks through 2nd tunnel along China-Laos railway
Source: Xinhua 2018-06-14 12:00:15

VIENTIANE, June 14 (Xinhua) -- The China Railway Guangzhou Engineering Group (CREC Guangzhou) has broken through a second tunnel along the China-Laos railway, securing steady progress in the construction of the railway project.

The CREC Guangzhou, a Chinese company which is in charge of the second section construction of the railway project, told Xinhua that the Ban Naven Tunnel was broken through on Tuesday.

The Ban Naven Tunnel is located in the country's northern town of Muangxay, Oudomxay Province.

The geological conditions of the 567-meter-long tunnel are very complicated with silty clay, sandstone and mudstone, thus posing challenges to the construction.

Since June 6, 2017, the CREC Guangzhou has assigned outstanding staff to the hilly tropical area and applied advanced technology and equipment in the construction of the tunnel.

The China-Laos railway is one of interconnectivity projects under the framework of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. Construction of the railway began in December 2016 and is expected to open to traffic in December 2021.

The China-Laos railway has a length over 414 km, linking Mohan-Boten border gate in northern Laos and capital Vientiane. Operating speed on the railway is designed at 160 km per hour.

 

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Chinese engineering firm completes main construction work of Laos' longest bridge
Source: Xinhua| 2018-06-15 22:41:49|Editor: Yurou

Photo taken on June 14, 2018 shows piers of the Nam Khone super major bridge in Vientiane, Laos. China Railway No. 2 Engineering Group (CREC-2) has completed the main construction work of the longest bridge along the China-Laos railway which is also the longest-ever bridge in Laos. (Xinhua/Qin Xiaoming)

VIENTIANE, June 15 (Xinhua) -- China Railway No. 2 Engineering Group (CREC-2) has completed the main construction work of the longest bridge along the China-Laos railway which is also the longest-ever bridge in Laos.

Zeng Fanbing, the superintendent from the CREC-2 in charge of the construction of the sixth section of the China-Laos railway project, told Xinhua on Friday that his team finished the concrete casting of the last bridge pier of the Nam Khone super major bridge on Thursday, thus completing the main construction work of the longest bridge along the railway project.

The Nam Khone super major bridge, located in the northern suburb of Lao capital Vientiane, has a total length of 7.5 km. A total of 230 bridge piers have now been erected. The highest pier reaches 10.5 meters.

The China-Laos railway is one of interconnectivity projects under the framework of the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. Construction of the railway began in December 2016 and the railway is expected to open to traffic in December 2021.

The China-Laos railway has a length of over 414 kilometers, linking Mohan-Boten border gate in northern Laos and capital Vientiane. Operating speed on the route is designed at 160 km per hour.

 

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Chinese company starts testing Mecca Light Rail for upcoming Hajj pilgrimage

Source: Xinhua | 2018-06-21 04:26:51 | Editor: huaxia

Pilgrims wait at the Mina Station of the light rail in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Nov. 4, 2011. (Xinhua)

RIYADH, June 20 (Xinhua) -- China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) started on Wednesday the testing of the Mecca Light Rail in preparation for Hajj pilgrimage in August when millions of pilgrims will head to the holiest city in Islam.

CRCC, which was in charge of the construction of Mecca Light Rail, gained again the operation contract worth 350 million Saudi Arabian rials (93 million U.S. dollars) in April as approved by the Saudi government.

The company had operated the light rail, the first one in Saudi, during 2010-2014 after the construction was completed, carrying out about 15 million trips with zero fatalities.

Pilgrims stand in the train at the Mina Station of the light rail in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, Nov. 4, 2011. (Xinhua)

The light rail, which is the first railway built by a Chinese company in the Middle East, will ease congestion on the road in Hajj pilgrimage season and provide an easy transportation for pilgrims as it links three main Hajj destinations.

In 2009, CRCC won the bidding of the project, which extends for 18.25 km and includes nine stations. The company finished its construction in 16 months.

 

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Railway project to link Tibet, Nepal
By HU YONGQI | China Daily | Updated: 2018-06-22 07:31

The 253-km railway line links Lhasa and Xigaze is officially put into use on Aug 15, 2014. [Photo/Xinhua]​

Li envisions nations cooperating on constructing linking infrastructure

China and Nepal will build a cross-border railway connecting the Tibet autonomous region with Kathmandu, as agreed on in more than 10 cooperative documents signed on Thursday.

The signing was witnessed by Premier Li Keqiang and his visiting Nepali counterpart Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Oli is on a six-day visit to China.

The new line will connect the Gyirong trading port in the city of Xigaze, Tibet, with the Nepali capital Kathmandu, Vice-Foreign Minister Kong Xuanyou said at a briefing after the two leaders' meeting. A railway was put in operation in 2014 linking Xigaze with the autonomous region's capital Lhasa, which is also at one end of the lengthy Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

"Over the past two years, China-Nepal relations have made new progress. Nepal is undertaking political transformation, and we respect your choice of social system and development path and support Nepal in safeguarding national sovereignty, independence and rightful interests," Li said during their meeting. "We highly appreciate Nepal's adherence to the one-China policy."

China would like to work with Nepal on building a cross-Himalayan connectivity network via projects in trading ports, railways, highways, aviation and telecommunications, Li said. The two countries should also deepen cooperation in trade, production capacity, investment and agricultural goods, to develop their own advantages, he said. Chinese companies are supported to make investments in the South Asian neighbor, which is also expected to facilitate their businesses, he said.

Li called for a start of negotiations on a free trade agreement between the two neighbors as soon as possible. He said both countries uphold multilateralism and free trade, and they should resort to multilateralism to tackle increasing uncertainties in the international context.

Both countries have developed friendship and cooperation based on the five principles of peaceful coexistence, Li said. Development of bilateral ties is beneficial to the two countries, and regional peace, stability and prosperity, he said.

China would like to strengthen exchanges and coordination with Nepal in multilateral organizations, such as the United Nations and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, to safeguard common interests, Li said.

Oli said the two countries have had a close connection over the long term and adhere to the five principles of peaceful coexistence with respect to each other's core interests and major concerns. Nepal firmly sticks to the one-China policy and promises not to tolerate anti-China activities on its territory, he said. The South Asian country will further strengthen ties and cooperation with China and proactively participate in the Belt and Road Initiative, he said.

 

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Milestone reached on Sino-Lao railway
By Ma Chenguang | China Daily | Updated: 2018-06-23 10:00

Builders install the first steel truss complex on Friday at Yuanjiang Railway Bridge, part of the Chinese section of the China-Laos railway, a major project in the Belt and Road Initiative. [Photo by Zhu Xiaochen/For China Daily]

Builders began to lay the first steel truss complex on Friday on Yuanjiang Railway Bridge－which has the tallest bridge pier in the world and the longest span between two piers－on the Chinese section of the 925.5-kilometer China-Laos railway, a major project in the Belt and Road Initiative.

The enormous metal framework, 13.5 meters long, 16 meters wide and 16 meters high with a weight of roughly 400 metric tons, is the first of 56 such structural components to stand on the 832.2-meter Yuanjiang Railway Bridge, said engineer Xie Lu from the China Railway No 4 Engineering Group Co Ltd (CREC4)－the company building it.

The dual-track bridge, spanning the V-shaped Honghe River Canyon, is one of 134 bridges being built on the 508.5-km Chinese section of the railway, which links Yuxi city in Southwest China's Yunnan province and the Lao capital Vientiane and will be fully operational in December 2021.

The main span of Yuanjiang Railway Bridge, which is 832.2 meters long with six piers, is 249 meters in length while its No 3 pier is 154 meters high, about the height of 54 stories in a high-rise, said Ruan Zhengjie, Party chief of Steel Structure Construction Co Ltd under CREC4.

The foundations of the tallest pier go 78 meters underground and took 22 months to build, he said.

Construction of the Chinese section, also called the Yuxi-Mohan Railway, started in April 2016 with an investment of 51.6 billion yuan ($7.9 billion) and 86.12 percent of it is comprised of bridges and tunnels, joining the Mohan-Boten border gate in northern Laos.

The 417-km-long Lao section, linking Mohan-Boten and Vientiane, has an operating speed of 160 km per hour with an investment of 37.4 billion yuan, said Wang Bingyan, manager of CREC4's No 4 subdivision of the Yuxi-Mohan Railway project.

According to him, the railway will allow landlocked Laos to become "land-linked", lowering production costs and boosting trade, investment and tourism.

As a demonstration project in China's "going global" strategy, the China-Laos railway is an achievement in Sino-Lao cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to build a modern-day Silk Road connecting economies in Asia, Africa and Europe by land and sea, Wang said.

"China aims to build a 5,500-km Trans-Asia Railway, which begins in Yunnan's provincial capital Kunming and travels through Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia, before ending in Singapore," said Ding He, Wang's deputy.

Earlier, China and Thailand started building Thailand's first high-speed railway in December 2017, which will link to the China-Laos railway, Ding said.

 

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Chinese Contractor Starts Kenyan Nairobi-Malaba Railway Project in Full Swing
XU WEI
DATE: MON, 06/25/2018 - 15:28 / SOURCE:YICAI

Chinese Contractor Starts Kenyan Nairobi-Malaba Railway Project in Full Swing​

(Yicai Global) June 25 -- China Communications Construction Co. has started building a 488-kilometer-long railway project in the eastern African country of Kenya.

The Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta inspected the Kenya Nairobi-Malaba Standard Gauge Railway project site near the Nairobi National Park on June 23, China Central Television reported. The president could learn that some 70 percent of the subgrade, tunnels, and bridges are already done. The contract period is 4.5 years but the report did not disclose the price of the deal.

Nairobi-Malaba SGR Project starts in Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya, and ends in Malaba, a border city between Kenya and Uganda. The railway route will become an extension to another Chinese-built line Mombasa–Nairobi SGR, which has already been operational for a year.

The latest project has so far employed nearly 12,000 members of local staff, accounting for 85 percent of its total workforce. The Beijing-based firm sourced from 600 local material suppliers and subcontracted the project to hundreds of engineering companies, which directly or indirectly created more than 20,000 jobs.

A 6.5-kilometer-long viaduct was built in order not to affect animal migrations as the Nairobi-Malaba SGR needs to traverse the largest wildlife park in the Kenyan capital.

 

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'Flying Dragon': The world’s highest steel truss bridge under installation
CGTN
Published on Jun 25, 2018

The Yuanjiang Railway Bridge's steel truss is currently being installed. The bridge is the most important piece of the railway project linking China and Laos. The railway project is part of the Belt and Road Initiative, which will improve the economy of Southeast Asia through tourism and trade routes.The entire railway is 508.53 km long, and is slated for completion in 2021.

 

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SE Asia's first high-speed rail ready for construction
By ZHAO LEI | Updated: 2018-07-02 08:18

Passengers take the G7 new longer Fuxing bullet train from Beijing to Shanghai, July 1, 2018. The new longer Fuxing bullet train ran on the Beijing-Shanghai line for the first time on Sunday. With a designed speed of 350 kilometers per hour, the new train measures more than 400 meters in length and has 16 carriages, twice as many as current ones. It can carry nearly 1,200 passengers. [Photo/Xinhua]

The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway project, a joint effort between China and Indonesia and the first of its kind in Southeast Asia, is ready for construction, according to China Railway Corp.

The company said in a statement on Friday that by June, major progress has been made at 22 key construction sites. Issues related to the project's licensing and financing have been gradually resolved and land acquisition work has made breakthroughs.

CRC, the world's largest railway operator, said that the design of the 142-kilometer rail line－connecting the Indonesian capital Jakarta, with West Java's capital Bandung－is based on China's railway technological standards, which are safe, reliable, advanced and long-tested, and take full consideration of the local weather and geological conditions, traditions and cultures, as well as lifestyles.

The trains will have a maximum design speed of 350 km/h on the four-stop rail line, and travel time between Jakarta and Bandung is expected to be cut from the three-plus hours on the current line to about 40 minutes.

The project is the first to use China's high-speed railway standards, technologies and equipment on a foreign line. It will be carried out by a China-Indonesia consortium of firms, Kereta Cepat Indonesia China, and will be funded mainly by loans from China Development Bank.

The line will offer not only a convenient and comfortable journey to the local people and mitigate the difficulties of travel between the two major cities, but also help to attract investment and boost commercial development and tourism along it, according to China Railway Corp.

The project is expected to stimulate the growth of Indonesia's construction equipment and material industries, and will create more job opportunities, CRC said.

Currently, more than 2,000 local employees work for the project and the number is expected to increase. CRC also said it will continue to train local employees and support Indonesia's efforts to develop its own high-speed rail professionals.

China and Indonesia signed an agreement in October 2015 to establish a joint venture to build and operate the Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway. The line's groundbreaking ceremony was held in January 2016.

However, construction was postponed due to issues ranging from funding to land acquisition, local media reported.

China now operates a high-speed rail network of more than 25,000 km, accounting for more than 60 percent of the world's entire high-speed railways. By the end of 2020, China will have owned at least 30,000 km of high-speed rail lines, according to the Transport Ministry.

China's high-speed railway network has been built at a cost that is at most two-thirds of that in other countries, according to the World Bank.

 

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Chinese on track for HS2 train bid, UK rivals in crisis
By Bo Leung in London | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2018-06-29 01:27

A electronic billboard promoting the HS2 transport link development and the city of Birmingham is seen during the annual Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham, Britain, Oct 2, 2016. [Photo/Agencies]

State-invested firm and Hong Kong’s MTR on course to win rail contract

Chinese railway companies are on course to win bids to operate High Speed 2 trains because of chaos among British bidders.

The Times newspaper reported that State-invested Chinese operator Guangshen Railway Co and MTR, that runs Hong Kong’s rail network, are favorites to take the contract to run the 354km-per-hour trains from a shortlist of three, which includes two British-led entries — one from a consortium involving Virgin and another led by First Group.

High Speed 2 (HS2) is a high-speed railway project in the United Kingdom, directly linking London, Birmingham, the East Midlands, Leeds and Manchester.

First Group’s chief executive resigned last month after reported losses of 326 million pounds ($427 million) and Virgin Trains handed back control of the East Coast main line to the government after overbidding for the rail franchise.

Final bids for the new West Coast Partnership that will design and run the HS2 services are due early next month. The contract is to take over the running of the West Coast main line franchise from London Euston into the late 2020s.

The winning contract will eventually take over running trains on HS2 between London and Birmingham from 2026.

The report suggests bidders are worried about the amount of capital they would be expected to put up in bonds to run HS2 while it is unclear how popular the line will be.

The government also wants the final salary pension scheme for employees on the West Coast main line to revert to the winner of the bid.

These liabilities might be difficult to bear for companies like Stagecoach, which is part of the Virgin consortium, and First Group, according to the newspaper.

Faced with delays and industrial action on UK trains, the source told The Times, “the government cannot afford to stuff this up”, adding, “unfortunately, they appear to be tendering a contract which is proving far from easy to bid for.”

Britain’s transport secretary Chris Grayling is due to make a final decision next May.

Julian Beer, deputy vice-chancellor at Birmingham City University, said, if a Chinese company does win the contract then, “it is up to the British government and British firms to make sure they feature in the supply chain and associated activities to at least gain some benefits”.

He added that the wider lesson for Britain is to learn from this and, “take a leaf out of the Chinese book and have a functioning and long-term business and industrial strategy where the government, industry and all the other stakeholders work together towards the best outcome for all involved”.

“The path of the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative for me serves as a great template for us to follow and for us to create our version post-Brexit on how we trade with the world and we should be doing so now,” Beer said.