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China HSR News And Information: Original Translation

Brother Jin fascinating pictures:) The escalator is very steep must be one of the longest in the world or at least in China. I would need to listen to Rock Balboa's song 'Gonna fly now' or Wong Fei Hong theme soundtrack 'A man of determination' to complete that marathon of walking up the stairs.
Xiexie Zanmei!
It's the longest escalator in Asia, there are longer ones in Moscow Metro.
I really felt terrified and dizzy on this escalator but I didn't wanna walk up to the top.:-)
I think u have been to a lot of metropolises of China, is Chongqing already included?
 
Xiexie Zanmei!
It's the longest escalator in Asia, there are longer ones in Moscow Metro.
I really felt terrified and dizzy on this escalator but I didn't wanna walk up to the top.:-)
I think u have been to a lot of metropolises of China, is Chongqing already included?

Brother your dedication in promoting and enthusiastically traveling across China through the use of the HSR network, is very commendable because you have shared a number of your adventures with us with tremendous detail. An amazing achievement for Chongqing to reach a milestone of constructing the largest escalator in Asia and this makes perfect sense because when you have a population of 32 million inhabitants and they need a mobile fast transportation system, then a longer escalator can hold more people in and out of the station.

The experience of that escalator is probably terrifying and can make most individuals feel disorientated, however at least your legs will not burn by running a steep marathon. Although, who needs to have a gym membership when you can simply walk up and down those stairs to stay in shape:) Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to visit Chongqing when I was in China, partly because my friend was whining about the whether being too hot in the summer. However, I will definitely go in the future because it will be the largest metropolis in the world. Furthermore, Chongqing is a great destination for food and is considered one of the best in China, since it takes its influence from Sichuan Province. I never was fond of the food in Dalian especially its barbecued fish. Dangdong is heavily influenced by Korean cuisine, which is relatively okay. Actually there is a funny story about Dangdong. My best friends Mother advised me carefully that when you reach Dangdong, please don't mention South Korea or any ill words directed towards the Kim family, because a number of spies are located there. When we visited a North Korean restaurant, I wanted to say Long Live North Korea...however I mistakenly said Long Live South Korea:) The waitress was not amused, however luckily the head of the Agricultural Bank of China Dangdong branch was there:) Its amazing when you travel around Dangdong, because you can see the difference between China and North Korea in terms of development.
 
An amazing achievement for Chongqing to reach a milestone of constructing the largest escalator in Asia and this makes perfect sense because when you have a population of 32 million inhabitants and they need a mobile fast transportation system, then a longer escalator can hold more people in and out of the station.
The creation of Chongqing Municipality in 1990s was to better develop the relatively poor region of 3 gorges. But actually less than 10 million inhabitants live in core districts of Chongqing, most live in other districts or counties 1-5 hours from downtown Chongqing by bus.

Although, who needs to have a gym membership when you can simply walk up and down those stairs to stay in shape
Exactly. It is said that people of Chongqing are generally slim because of these sort of stairs exercises. In any community in Chongqing, u will find that it's inevitable to climb some stairs to the main entrance.

I did not have the opportunity to visit Chongqing when I was in China, partly because my friend was whining about the whether being too hot in the summer.
Super humid, just like Wuhan and Nanjing ,big three brothers by Yangtze River with unbearable humidity during summer. So, we either hide in room with A/C or sleep naked on the roof(very popular before 2000 when few people afforded A/C). During summer, u will see some poor people gather in the underground air defence facilities or public space with A/C.

Chongqing is a great destination for food and is considered one of the best in China, since it takes its influence from Sichuan Province.
Don't say that in front of Chongqing-er. They are enemies of Chengdu, I'm not joking.:-)

Dangdong is heavily influenced by Korean cuisine, which is relatively okay.
Yesterday after watching Stand by Me Doraemon, we had some Korean food, Korean BBQ, very cheap in Wuhan, 80 yuan for us three(coupon). I don't think South Koreans can have beef the way we have.:p:
@Nihonjin1051 a great 3D movie, the first time my mother knows this lovely blue fat guy. And for the first two days, we can buy the tickets with only 20yuan with Qunar, now it's back to 40-80yuan. I wanna watch again!
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Its amazing when you travel around Dangdong, because you can see the difference between China and North Korea in terms of development.
I heard the train from Dandong to Pyongyang has been recovered. But traveling in NK is too damn expensive and I won't take photos freely. I'm extremely interested in subway and tramway of Pyongyang.
6774baac2221ac77893c54277b50e91d.jpg
 
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The creation of Chongqing Municipality in 1990s was to better develop the relatively poor region of 3 gorges. But acutely less than 10 million inhabitants live in core districts of Chongqing, most live in other districts or counties 1-5 hours from downtown Chongqing by bus.

A separate municipality was a smart move by the policy makers of China, because effective planning and the allocation of funds for those projects can be easily achieved, unlike provinces who face obstacles and are hampered by bureaucracy.This is one of the main reasons, why people in Karachi want a separate municipality from the province of Sindh in Pakistan. The core districts of Chongqing houses 10 million inhabitants, however the truly remarkable elements of this city is that its expanding outwards at an accelerated rate. The same concept can be applied in London which has a population of 6 million inhabitants, but most of them actually live outside of central London and need to take a train to work everyday.


Super humid, just like Wuhan and Nanjing ,big three brothers by Yangtze River with unbearable humidity during summer. So, we either hide in room with A/C or sleep naked on the roof(very popular before 2000 when few people afforded A/C). During summer, u will see some poor people gather in the underground air defence facilities or public space with A/C.

Brother Jin, have you visited Nanjing before because my friend from Jiangsu province, speaks very highly on this city. Apparently Nanjing has its own opera culture which is regarded with the same level of standard as Beijing opera house. Its amazing how our ancestors were able to live without A/C. Brother Jin, you must be careful with you articulation of people sleeping in roof tops naked, because then you might see a mass migration of Supa Powans visiting your cities and sexually harassing the women:)

Yesterday after watching Stand by Me Doraemon, we had some Korean food, Korean BBQ, very cheap in Wuhan, 80 yuan for us three(coupon). I don't think South Koreans can have beef the way we have.:p:
@@Nihonjin1051 a great 3D movie, the first time my mother knows this lovely blue fat guy. And for the first two days, we can buy the tickets with only 20yuan with Qunar, now it's back to 40-80yuan. I wanna watch again!


Brother the main dish which they served in Dangdong was dog ribs and it was hilarious because my Hong Kong friend was confused. He owns a dog in Kowloon, therefore he was afraid that his pet would sniff his own kind. Actually when he had the first bite, he enjoyed it thoroughly as the texture has a unique flavour. Prices in China for eating good food is very cheap and fulfilling specifically street food. However then you have very expensive restaurants who serve abalone and bird nest soup.

Don't say that in front of Chongqing-er. They are enemies of Chengdu, I'm not joking.

I will only say that to a Chongqing-er, when I sit on a motorcycle about 100 meters away for safety and security. I guess this will be one way of witnessing the famous temper of the women of Chongqing:) There should be a boxing match between the women of Chongqing and Chengdu...and I should referee the match:)

I heard the train from Dandong to Pyongyang has been recovered. But traveling in NK is too damn expensive and I won't take photos freely. I'm extremely interested in subway and tramway of Pyongyang.

When I had the opportunity to visit Dangdong, my friends took me for a boat ride to witness and observe certain areas of North Korea, because literally some specific points of the border is in touching distance. The train from Dangdong to Pyongyang is recovered, however I have no interests in visiting that country because you don't have the luxury of taking photos freely. Surprisingly there underground subway looks clean in comparison to London or Paris.
 
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Don't you think the tracks should be laid keeping future in mind, and the possibility of having 500kmph trains?
The priority as stated in the current plan is to link all cities or counties with more than half a million people to HSR network, which literally means nearly all cities and counties. If a line has an operating speed of 500kph, a train will stops at just a few stations. This is the same case as in intercity HSR, just 5-20km between adjacent stations, so 200kph-250kph is enough. If we want to commercialise 500kph HSR, a train will only stop at provincial capitals or sub-provincial cities. It will be only applicable as an additional line to major trunk corridor like Shanghai-Beijing and Beijing-Guangzhou. It has been already proved, 300-380kph for trunk lines, 200-250kph for tributary lines is the best strategy. If in several decade, 500kph is feasible, that's why some sections will be tested in the coming 2 years. Just add two parallel tracks in main lines, there is enough room along existing HSR lines in most cases.

If I design a supplymentary 500kph network, it will be like
屏幕快照 2015-05-30 23.15.05.png


Brother Jin, have you visited Nanjing before because my friend from Jiangsu province, speaks very highly on this city.
Hundreds of times. When I was studying in Shanghai, I traveled to Nanjing or had seminars there quite often, nearly 200 pairs of bullet trains daily link these two cities. It's just too easy to have a one-day excursion to Nanjing 300 km away. And Nanjing to Wuhan is also not very far, only 3-3.5 hours by HSR. So a lot of people from Wuhan will organise a weekend trip to Nanjing, like going their at Friday night and then coming back at Sunday night. There are too many things to see in Nanjing, since Nanjing was the capital of many dynasties, like early Ming and Republic of China. Every time I travel to Nanjing, two places are a must for me, Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall and Dr. Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum.

There should be a boxing match between the women of Chongqing and Chengdu...
I will buy a ticket.

Surprisingly there underground subway looks clean in comparison to London or Paris.
Perhaps the cleanest. Metros of Paris and New York are said to be the dirtiest.
 
Prices in China for eating good food is very cheap and fulfilling specifically street food. However then you have very expensive restaurants who serve abalone and bird nest soup.
Maybe because of the anti-corruption campaign, now a lot of high-end restaurants offer extremely cheap coupons and set meals. And because of fierce competition of different APPs in China, we can enjoy luxury in a vey reasonable price with huge discounts. It's very easy to order 4/5 star hotel with less than $40 and have dinner in a palace-like restaurant with less than $10 per person.

Another change here is the shopping habit. Some old shopping malls used to cover the entire city. But now, every district has at least one huge shopping centre. In 2014, more than 10 shopping centres were opened, 19 will be in 2015. So shopping in big malls becomes one part of the things done within community. Some old style local shopping centres are fading away(some once famous ones are closed), they got to be improved or will be forgotten in years. More gigantic malls like IKEA's grand shopping centre attract people from downtown to suburban areas, making life there much easier. Wuhanese used to shop in a department store and then find a nearby restaurant, but now everything is within one shopping centre, spending a whole day in one place.

One "tiny" community-level shopping centre where I watched movie yesterday. Small, but it offers all kinds of Chinese and foreign cuisines, cinema, bookstore, children's playground, arcade games, supermarket, etc, basically everything.
屏幕快照 2015-05-30 23.51.23.png


And I also go to food streets at night.:p:
Having some BBQ and fried dumplings.
屏幕快照 2015-05-30 23.40.57.png
 
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The priority as stated in the current plan is to link all cities or counties with more than half a million people to HSR network, which literally means nearly all cities and counties. If a line has an operating speed of 500kph, a train will stops at just a few stations. This is the same case as in intercity HSR, just 5-20km between adjacent stations, so 200kph-250kph is enough. If we want to commercialise 500kph HSR, a train will only stop at provincial capitals or sub-provincial cities. It will be only applicable as an additional line to major trunk corridor like Shanghai-Beijing and Beijing-Guangzhou. It has been already proved, 300-380kph for trunk lines, 200-250kph for tributary lines is the best strategy. If in several decade, 500kph is feasible, that's why some sections will be tested in the coming 2 years. Just add two parallel tracks in main lines, there is enough room along existing HSR lines in most cases.

If I design a supplymentary 500kph network, it will be like
View attachment 226074


Hundreds of times. When I was studying in Shanghai, I traveled to Nanjing or had seminars there quite often, nearly 200 pairs of bullet trains daily link these two cities. It's just too easy to have a one-day excursion to Nanjing 300 km away. And Nanjing to Wuhan is also not very far, only 3-3.5 hours by HSR. So a lot of people from Wuhan will organise a weekend trip to Nanjing, like going their at Friday night and then coming back at Sunday night. There are too many things to see in Nanjing, since Nanjing was the capital of many dynasties, like early Ming and Republic of China. Every time I travel to Nanjing, two places are a must for me, Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall and Dr. Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum.


I will buy a ticket.


Perhaps the cleanest. Metros of Paris and New York are said to be the dirtiest.

But then wouldn't it take further investments? Investments which are not profitable? As you said, turning radius etc have to be taken into consideration, which you mean that parallel tracks can't be laid, simply because turning radius of a parallel track will be the same.
Also, is there space on bridges and overpasses to have a parallel line?

Or was this a strategic oversight?
 
But then wouldn't it take further investments? Investments which are not profitable? As you said, turning radius etc have to be taken into consideration, which you mean that parallel tracks can't be laid, simply because turning radius of a parallel track will be the same.
Also, is there space on bridges and overpasses to have a parallel line?

Or was this a strategic oversight?
I didn't mean they are on the same bridge like
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But
屏幕快照 2015-05-31 00.19.45.png
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Parallel, but have some distance and then join together at the same station.
 
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I didn't mean they are on the same bridge like
View attachment 226097 View attachment 226096

But
View attachment 226099 View attachment 226100 View attachment 226103View attachment 226104 View attachment 226105
Parallel, but have some distance and then join together at the same station.

That essentially means spending all together new for everything.
Right now, All the infrastructure spending is going on by taking loans to finance the projects, or issuing bonds, with the hope that the general benefits will be able to pay back. But, at that time, would it be possible. Especially say if there is a debt hold?

Right now, only Shanghai-Beijing line, as far as I know, are operationally profitable, others are operationally on loss. Leave alone the initial capital of setting up the system which by itself is quite huge.

I am not saying that the system necessarily needs to be net profitable, but still, I think it should at least run at an operational break even cost, or else this is essentially a transport subsidy to everyone.

Now is that wise?

I would say, that there should have been oversight to plan a possible 500kmph line in the future, by optimization, could have saved HUGE money.
 
That essentially means spending all together new for everything.
Right now, All the infrastructure spending is going on by taking loans to finance the projects, or issuing bonds, with the hope that the general benefits will be able to pay back. But, at that time, would it be possible. Especially say if there is a debt hold?

Right now, only Shanghai-Beijing line, as far as I know, are operationally profitable, others are operationally on loss. Leave alone the initial capital of setting up the system which by itself is quite huge.

I am not saying that the system necessarily needs to be net profitable, but still, I think it should at least run at an operational break even cost, or else this is essentially a transport subsidy to everyone.

Now is that wise?

I would say, that there should have been oversight to plan a possible 500kmph line in the future, by optimization, could have saved HUGE money.
CR as a whole is never profitable. Considering social benefit, every HSR is profitable.
 
CR as a whole is never profitable. Considering social benefit, every HSR is profitable.

Exactly, that's why I think, the railways on the whole should at max have 5% loss as a share of revenue on an operational basis excluding Capital cost.
 
Maybe because of the anti-corruption campaign, now a lot of high-end restaurants offer extremely cheap coupons and set meals. And because of fierce competition of different APPs in China, we can enjoy luxury in a vey reasonable price with huge discounts. It's very easy to order 4/5 star hotel with less than $40 and have dinner in a palace-like restaurant with less than $10 per capita.

Another change here is the shopping habit. Some old shopping malls used to cover the entire city. But now, every district has at least one huge shopping centre. In 2014, more than 10 shopping centres were opened, 19 will be in 2015. So shopping in big malls becomes one part of the things done within community. Some old style local shopping centres are fading away(some once famous ones are closed), they got to be improved or will be forgotten in years. More gigantic malls like IKEA's grand shopping centre attract people from downtown to suburban areas, making life there much easier. Wuhanese used to shop in a department store and then find a nearby restaurant, but now everything is within one shopping centre, spending a whole day in one place.

One "tiny" community-level shopping centre where I watched movie yesterday. Small, but it offers all kinds of Chinese and foreign cuisines, cinema, bookstore, children's playground, arcade games, supermarket, etc, basically everything.
View attachment 226098

And I also go to food streets at night.:p:
Having some BBQ and fried dumplings.
View attachment 226101

Mind your weight。 :D
 

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