China’s bullet trains facilitate market integration and mitigate the cost of megacity growth
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China to step up construction on major transport infrastructure
Editor: Wang Xuemeng 丨Xinhua
02-22-2015 13:58 BJT
BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- China will maintain the scale and intensity of major transportation infrastructure construction in 2015 to buoy growth.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said that more railway lines, particularly in the central and western regions, will be put into operation this year, which will stabilize economic growth and improve people's livelihoods.
The NDRC will continue to encourage social capital through preferential measures to attract investment in major transportation infrastructure in 2015.
In 2014, the NDRC approved 34 billion yuan (5.56 billion U.S. dollars) for transportation infrastructure, which included railways, roads, airports and waterways.
China had more than 110,000 kilometers of railways by the end of 2014, 15,800 kilometers were high speed rail (HSR), making it the HSR world leader.
2nd travel peak of Spring Festival Holiday begins
02-22-2015 14:13 BJT
While some enjoying their holiday, many others have started to come back home. The second travel peak of China's Spring Festival Holiday has begun to put pressure on the country's railway system.
7.7 million trips will be made today. Huge flow of people are packing major railway stations in Wuhan, Chengdu and Nanchang, with a 10% increase from Saturday. The bad weather across the country has also forced people to choose to go home by trains.
Meanwhile, for road and air traffic, national transport authority predict that the peak will be tomorrow.
Editor: Wang Xuemeng 丨Xinhua
02-22-2015 13:58 BJT
BEIJING, Feb. 22 (Xinhua) -- China will maintain the scale and intensity of major transportation infrastructure construction in 2015 to buoy growth.
The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said that more railway lines, particularly in the central and western regions, will be put into operation this year, which will stabilize economic growth and improve people's livelihoods.
The NDRC will continue to encourage social capital through preferential measures to attract investment in major transportation infrastructure in 2015.
In 2014, the NDRC approved 34 billion yuan (5.56 billion U.S. dollars) for transportation infrastructure, which included railways, roads, airports and waterways.
China had more than 110,000 kilometers of railways by the end of 2014, 15,800 kilometers were high speed rail (HSR), making it the HSR world leader.
2nd travel peak of Spring Festival Holiday begins
02-22-2015 14:13 BJT
While some enjoying their holiday, many others have started to come back home. The second travel peak of China's Spring Festival Holiday has begun to put pressure on the country's railway system.
7.7 million trips will be made today. Huge flow of people are packing major railway stations in Wuhan, Chengdu and Nanchang, with a 10% increase from Saturday. The bad weather across the country has also forced people to choose to go home by trains.
Meanwhile, for road and air traffic, national transport authority predict that the peak will be tomorrow.
ahojunk
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Chinese high-speed: an evaluation of traffic | International Railway Journal
International Rail Journal
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Chinese high-speed: an evaluation of traffic
Written by Gerald Ollivier, Richard Bullock, Yin Jing, Jitendra Sondhri, Nanyan Zhou, World Bank Beijing
The extraordinary growth of China's high-speed network has been one of the defining rail trends of recent years, but the pace of expansion has made charting traffic development a challenging process. Gerald Ollivier, Richard Bullock, Yin Jing, Jitendra Sondhri and Nanyan Zhou from the World Bank's Beijing office uncover usage trends from the initial years of operation and consider how traffic might develop in the future.
In terms of high-speed rail (HSR) network length, no country comes close to China, whose system had reached 12,183km by October 2014. To put this in context, China has constructed almost four times as much high-speed railway as Spain, which has the world's second largest network. Today most of the metropolitan regions in China are either connected, or in the process of being connected, to lines with a maximum speed of 200km/h or above.
By July 2014, China Railways Corporation (CRC) was operating more than 1330 China Rail High Speed (CRH) services a day on both the high-speed network and upgraded conventional lines. More lines are being built and upgraded to connect all cities of more than 500,000 people with services of at least 160km/h by this year. Since China's first truly high-speed line only opened in 2008, this represents a radical change in the provision of passenger services by CRC in a very short time.
However, building new infrastructure or providing services is not an end in itself and when the high-speed programme was announced there was much debate over whether the projected traffic would materialise and whether the cost of constructing such a system could be justified.
Nearly seven years after the opening of the first high-speed line, insights into usage have begun to emerge and many important questions can now be answered. What is the traffic level and how does it compare with air traffic? Who is travelling on CRH services? Has high-speed rail benefited ordinary citizens? These answers are important for informing policy and regulations, as well as optimising train services.
By October 1 2014, CRH had carried more than 2.9 billion passengers since its launch. Traffic increased from 128 million in 2008 to 672 million in 2013 with annual growth of around 39% during this period.
In 2013, Chinese high-speed traffic reached 214 billion passenger-km, slightly more traffic than the rest of the world's high-speed networks combined and around 2.5 times the volume carried in Japan, which has the second-busiest network. These are substantial numbers for a system that is still in its early days.
China is unique in many of its characteristics, be it for its sheer land area (9.6 million km²), the long distances between north and south, east and west, its current stage of economic development (GDP of $US 6807 per capita in 2013) and its population density (141 people/km²), particularly in central and eastern provinces. It has many well-dispersed large cities of more than 500,000 inhabitants located 200-900km apart, ideal territory for high-speed rail.
China is also at a turning point in its urbanisation, a strategic time to put in place the transport backbone that will stimulate the overall competitiveness of cities. In 2013, 53% of the population was urbanised but by 2030 this will increase to 70% or around 1 billion people.
According to the 2010 census 221 cities have a population of more than 500,000 and 81 cities are home to more than a million inhabitants and more are expected to join their ranks as urbanisation continues. Those cities will seek to develop their service industries and play a major role in the growing domestic economy. Competitiveness will be influenced by the quality of their transport links to innovation networks and to supply chains, both national and international.
China is also seeking to rebalance economic growth geographically, and after 30 years of rapid development in the eastern provinces, development of central and western provinces has become a prime objective for the government, with improved connectivity expected to play a central role in this rebalancing. The completion of high-speed links to Xinjiang in the west and Guizhou in central China at the end of 2014 demonstrates this policy in action.
As these changes occur, international benchmarks show that the average distance travelled is likely to increase significantly as China's per capita GDP increases. If the average Chinese citizen were to travel as much as the average Japanese, European or American, the distance they travel would be multiplied by four, five or 10 respectively by 2030, compared with 2012 levels. As the Chinese economy grows in sophistication and the population becomes more affluent, service levels will also need to be raised.
While new transport demands are emerging and existing transport needs are growing, the CRC network is already one of the most densely used in the world, with robust growth between 2009 and 2013. Overall passenger traffic grew by 5.5% per year during this period reaching 2.1 billion passengers or 1060 billion passenger-km in 2013. Railfreight grew by 6% per year to 3.6 billion tonnes, or 2633 billion tonne-km in 2013. These are large volumes compared with the size of the network (103,100km in 2013).
The combination of rapidly growing traffic and of high existing traffic density meant that major investment would be needed if rail continues to play a key role in the economy.The government's Mid-to-Long Term Railway Network Plan adopted in 2004, and updated in 2008, laid out a development strategy for the network for the period up to 2020, including the connection of all provincial capitals and cities above 500,000 people to a rapid rail network of 45,000km, including about 16,000km of high-speed lines. The programme was later accelerated to achieve most of these objectives by 2015.
The CRH network was launched in April 2007 with a new generation of trains capable of operating at up to 250km/h, although initially most mileage was covered on upgraded conventional routes. The need to share track with freight trains meant average station-to-station speeds remained moderate, even if maximum speeds had improved substantially. With a 10-hour trip, the average speed between Beijing and Shanghai had reached 132km/h.
In 2008, the first of a new generation of high-speed lines began operating. The Beijing - Tianjin high-speed line opened in August 2008, with a maximum operating speed of 350km/h and an average station-to-station speed of 240km/h. It quickly established itself as a competitive form of transport, carrying over 16 million passengers in its first year of operation.
By December 2012, both the 1318km Beijing - Shanghai and the 2281km Beijing West - Guangzhou high-speed lines had been completed, connecting the three most vibrant economic clusters in China. By international standards these lines offer extremely competitive journey times, with the caveat that many stations are located outside central areas, and thus require additional connection time. For example the Beijing West - Zhengzhou East CRH service offers an average station-to-station speed of 289km/h with a journey time of 2h 24min for the 693km trip. The average speed for Beijing - Shanghai is 275km/h and the 1318km journey takes just 4h 48min.
On July 1 2014, CRC introduced a new summer timetable with 1330 CRH services per day. Aside from increasing CRH capacity, the new schedule enabled a shift towards more high-speed services and an increase in freight traffic on conventional lines, which was one of the original goals of developing the high-speed network.
Nevertheless, the new timetables raised some concerns. Service levels did not differentiate between peak and off-peak periods and few discounts were offered for services with lower demand. This may result in lower occupancy rates on off-peak trains, while tickets for peak trains will remain difficult to obtain. A number of conventional services were also replaced by CRH, reducing options for low or middle-income passengers who may be less time sensitive but more price sensitive. These concerns could be addressed in part by introducing additional flexibility in pricing with discounted tickets during off-peak periods.
All CRH trains are formed of eight or 16 cars with capacity ranging from 494 to 1299 seats. The busiest routes can be served by up to 101 services per direction per day, with up to eight trains per hour at peak times. Traffic density on such routes is estimated at about 30-40 million passengers. Two types of services are provided; express trains stopping only at major cities while other trains stop at intermediate stations. On medium density routes, 40-50 trains operate daily.
Fares vary depending on the speed of the services. Second class fares for 200 to 250km/h HSR services are about $US 0.045 per km, similar to intercity bus fares. Second class fares for 300 to 350km/h HSR services are $US 0.077 per km, lower than or comparable with discounted air fares. This is three to four times the fare for conventional express trains, but tickets for these services are often difficult to obtain and the level of service is significantly lower. The low-cost of high-speed fares compared with other countries reflects the substantial traffic densities and occupancy rates, and the lower cost base for construction and operation.
During 2008-2013, total rail passenger volume continued to grow at 7.6% annually, but with a change in traffic composition. While conventional rail traffic grew 1.5% annually, CRH traffic has increased 39% per annum since 2008. The introduction of CRH services has not caused a reduction in ridership on the conventional network, but has instead fuelled accelerated growth, which the previous network, close to its full capacity, was unable to achieve.
By October 1 2014, CRH had carried an estimated 2.9 billion passengers, an estimated 1.9 billion of whom travelled over the dedicated high-speed network for at least part of their journey.
In 2013, CRH services carried an estimated 672 million passengers equivalent to 32% of all rail journeys in China, and CRH passenger volume reached 221.7 billion passenger-km. The average distance travelled reached 330km and average distances are increasing steadily as the network expands. The large number of passengers on short-distance CRH services lowers the average.
The two busiest lines are Beijing - Shanghai and Beijing - Guangzhou, each estimated to carry more than 100 million passengers in 2014. Few of these passengers travelled end-to-end and the average trip length on both corridors is about 500km. The first long-distance line, the 969km Wuhan - Guangzhou line carried around 50 million passengers in 2013, about 14 million of whom came from interline traffic, illustrating network effects. Around half of the ridership on this route came from conventional services with the remaining traffic being new-to-rail. According to a report in the People's Railway Post in January 2014, the average seat occupancy on CRH services was 70% in 2013.
While HSR has experienced stronger growth than air transport, the two modes remain quite different in their features. In 2013, twice as many passengers travelled on CRH services (672 million) as domestic flights (327 million) and while domestic air traffic increased continuously at an average of 13% per year between 2008 and 2013, CRH growth has been substantially faster, averaging 39% per year. However, the average air trip was substantially longer at 1363km in 2012 and is getting longer, presumably as flights covering distances of less than 800km tend to be withdrawn when faced with high-speed rail competition.
For short trips (less than 150km), car and bus often remain competitive, especially if the high-speed station is located far from the city centre, while for journeys of more than 1000km air is still an attractive option. Nevertheless, the reliability, frequency and comfort of CRH services make rail competitive for most middle-distance trips and in some cities, such as Baoding, CRH has even become a commuting option.
While the high-speed network in China will quickly reach maturity, traffic is still in its early days as the experience of Japan and France, the two leaders in high-speed traffic outside China, has shown. Judging from both of these examples, and from the forecast increase in mobility in China, the current level of traffic is relatively strong. In 2013 after five years of CRH operations, high-speed passenger density (defined as passenger-km divided by the average length of high-speed lines in operation) had reached 22.5 million, close to the level reached in France (25 million) after 32 years of operation. While it will take longer to reach the current level in Japan (36 million), China's current level of traffic compares favourably with Japan at the same stage of development.
Considering the overall development context in China, rapid traffic growth looks set to continue over the next two decades, with levels closely related to the pace of economic development. This network also offers high transport capacity, a feature particularly relevant during the peak traffic periods. Experience in France indicates traffic could be further expanded by offering differentiated pricing strategies based on occupancy rates.
The level of demand seen so far confirms a strong need for such a service along core corridors, and passengers' willingness to pay higher fares.
In May 2013 CRC, the World Bank and China's Third Railway Survey and Design Institute surveyed 1001 passengers on conventional and high-speed trains on the Tianjin - Jinan and Jilin - Changchun routes. This showed that a large proportion of high-speed passengers - 62% based on the Tianjin - Jinan route - belong to the 25-55 age group. Many of these passengers were travelling for business, with high-speed rail facilitating an increase in trip frequency for businesses.
The research found that a broad range of travellers from different income levels choose CRH for its comfort, safety and punctuality over existing alternatives. Users perceive it as facilitating reunions with family and friends, tourism, and access to job opportunities.
The self-reported income levels from the on-train survey suggests that the majority of passengers had monthly income of less than Yuan 5000 ($US 805) per month (50-70% of users in the two case studies). The high-speed passengers' average income was 35-50% higher than that of passengers on conventional trains. High-speed appears to have filled a gap in the type of services previously offered.
As the network develops, there will be a clear need to pay careful attention to the overall door-to-door trip experience for travellers. This includes dealing with aspects that sometimes extend beyond the remit of the railway, for example by improving station access, and, in particular, reducing the waiting times for taxis or ensuring high frequency local public transport services. It also includes optimising train frequencies and stops based on emerging trip patterns and user surveys, introducing flexible ticket prices reflecting peak/off-peak periods, and introducing convenient e-ticketing.
By focusing on these aspects, and on the efficient operation of the network, high-speed rail in China can be expected to continue to experience substantial growth for years to come.
.
International Rail Journal
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Chinese high-speed: an evaluation of traffic
Written by Gerald Ollivier, Richard Bullock, Yin Jing, Jitendra Sondhri, Nanyan Zhou, World Bank Beijing
The extraordinary growth of China's high-speed network has been one of the defining rail trends of recent years, but the pace of expansion has made charting traffic development a challenging process. Gerald Ollivier, Richard Bullock, Yin Jing, Jitendra Sondhri and Nanyan Zhou from the World Bank's Beijing office uncover usage trends from the initial years of operation and consider how traffic might develop in the future.
In terms of high-speed rail (HSR) network length, no country comes close to China, whose system had reached 12,183km by October 2014. To put this in context, China has constructed almost four times as much high-speed railway as Spain, which has the world's second largest network. Today most of the metropolitan regions in China are either connected, or in the process of being connected, to lines with a maximum speed of 200km/h or above.
By July 2014, China Railways Corporation (CRC) was operating more than 1330 China Rail High Speed (CRH) services a day on both the high-speed network and upgraded conventional lines. More lines are being built and upgraded to connect all cities of more than 500,000 people with services of at least 160km/h by this year. Since China's first truly high-speed line only opened in 2008, this represents a radical change in the provision of passenger services by CRC in a very short time.
However, building new infrastructure or providing services is not an end in itself and when the high-speed programme was announced there was much debate over whether the projected traffic would materialise and whether the cost of constructing such a system could be justified.
Nearly seven years after the opening of the first high-speed line, insights into usage have begun to emerge and many important questions can now be answered. What is the traffic level and how does it compare with air traffic? Who is travelling on CRH services? Has high-speed rail benefited ordinary citizens? These answers are important for informing policy and regulations, as well as optimising train services.
By October 1 2014, CRH had carried more than 2.9 billion passengers since its launch. Traffic increased from 128 million in 2008 to 672 million in 2013 with annual growth of around 39% during this period.
In 2013, Chinese high-speed traffic reached 214 billion passenger-km, slightly more traffic than the rest of the world's high-speed networks combined and around 2.5 times the volume carried in Japan, which has the second-busiest network. These are substantial numbers for a system that is still in its early days.
China is unique in many of its characteristics, be it for its sheer land area (9.6 million km²), the long distances between north and south, east and west, its current stage of economic development (GDP of $US 6807 per capita in 2013) and its population density (141 people/km²), particularly in central and eastern provinces. It has many well-dispersed large cities of more than 500,000 inhabitants located 200-900km apart, ideal territory for high-speed rail.
China is also at a turning point in its urbanisation, a strategic time to put in place the transport backbone that will stimulate the overall competitiveness of cities. In 2013, 53% of the population was urbanised but by 2030 this will increase to 70% or around 1 billion people.
According to the 2010 census 221 cities have a population of more than 500,000 and 81 cities are home to more than a million inhabitants and more are expected to join their ranks as urbanisation continues. Those cities will seek to develop their service industries and play a major role in the growing domestic economy. Competitiveness will be influenced by the quality of their transport links to innovation networks and to supply chains, both national and international.
China is also seeking to rebalance economic growth geographically, and after 30 years of rapid development in the eastern provinces, development of central and western provinces has become a prime objective for the government, with improved connectivity expected to play a central role in this rebalancing. The completion of high-speed links to Xinjiang in the west and Guizhou in central China at the end of 2014 demonstrates this policy in action.
As these changes occur, international benchmarks show that the average distance travelled is likely to increase significantly as China's per capita GDP increases. If the average Chinese citizen were to travel as much as the average Japanese, European or American, the distance they travel would be multiplied by four, five or 10 respectively by 2030, compared with 2012 levels. As the Chinese economy grows in sophistication and the population becomes more affluent, service levels will also need to be raised.
While new transport demands are emerging and existing transport needs are growing, the CRC network is already one of the most densely used in the world, with robust growth between 2009 and 2013. Overall passenger traffic grew by 5.5% per year during this period reaching 2.1 billion passengers or 1060 billion passenger-km in 2013. Railfreight grew by 6% per year to 3.6 billion tonnes, or 2633 billion tonne-km in 2013. These are large volumes compared with the size of the network (103,100km in 2013).
The combination of rapidly growing traffic and of high existing traffic density meant that major investment would be needed if rail continues to play a key role in the economy.The government's Mid-to-Long Term Railway Network Plan adopted in 2004, and updated in 2008, laid out a development strategy for the network for the period up to 2020, including the connection of all provincial capitals and cities above 500,000 people to a rapid rail network of 45,000km, including about 16,000km of high-speed lines. The programme was later accelerated to achieve most of these objectives by 2015.
The CRH network was launched in April 2007 with a new generation of trains capable of operating at up to 250km/h, although initially most mileage was covered on upgraded conventional routes. The need to share track with freight trains meant average station-to-station speeds remained moderate, even if maximum speeds had improved substantially. With a 10-hour trip, the average speed between Beijing and Shanghai had reached 132km/h.
In 2008, the first of a new generation of high-speed lines began operating. The Beijing - Tianjin high-speed line opened in August 2008, with a maximum operating speed of 350km/h and an average station-to-station speed of 240km/h. It quickly established itself as a competitive form of transport, carrying over 16 million passengers in its first year of operation.
By December 2012, both the 1318km Beijing - Shanghai and the 2281km Beijing West - Guangzhou high-speed lines had been completed, connecting the three most vibrant economic clusters in China. By international standards these lines offer extremely competitive journey times, with the caveat that many stations are located outside central areas, and thus require additional connection time. For example the Beijing West - Zhengzhou East CRH service offers an average station-to-station speed of 289km/h with a journey time of 2h 24min for the 693km trip. The average speed for Beijing - Shanghai is 275km/h and the 1318km journey takes just 4h 48min.
On July 1 2014, CRC introduced a new summer timetable with 1330 CRH services per day. Aside from increasing CRH capacity, the new schedule enabled a shift towards more high-speed services and an increase in freight traffic on conventional lines, which was one of the original goals of developing the high-speed network.
Nevertheless, the new timetables raised some concerns. Service levels did not differentiate between peak and off-peak periods and few discounts were offered for services with lower demand. This may result in lower occupancy rates on off-peak trains, while tickets for peak trains will remain difficult to obtain. A number of conventional services were also replaced by CRH, reducing options for low or middle-income passengers who may be less time sensitive but more price sensitive. These concerns could be addressed in part by introducing additional flexibility in pricing with discounted tickets during off-peak periods.
All CRH trains are formed of eight or 16 cars with capacity ranging from 494 to 1299 seats. The busiest routes can be served by up to 101 services per direction per day, with up to eight trains per hour at peak times. Traffic density on such routes is estimated at about 30-40 million passengers. Two types of services are provided; express trains stopping only at major cities while other trains stop at intermediate stations. On medium density routes, 40-50 trains operate daily.
Fares vary depending on the speed of the services. Second class fares for 200 to 250km/h HSR services are about $US 0.045 per km, similar to intercity bus fares. Second class fares for 300 to 350km/h HSR services are $US 0.077 per km, lower than or comparable with discounted air fares. This is three to four times the fare for conventional express trains, but tickets for these services are often difficult to obtain and the level of service is significantly lower. The low-cost of high-speed fares compared with other countries reflects the substantial traffic densities and occupancy rates, and the lower cost base for construction and operation.
During 2008-2013, total rail passenger volume continued to grow at 7.6% annually, but with a change in traffic composition. While conventional rail traffic grew 1.5% annually, CRH traffic has increased 39% per annum since 2008. The introduction of CRH services has not caused a reduction in ridership on the conventional network, but has instead fuelled accelerated growth, which the previous network, close to its full capacity, was unable to achieve.
By October 1 2014, CRH had carried an estimated 2.9 billion passengers, an estimated 1.9 billion of whom travelled over the dedicated high-speed network for at least part of their journey.
In 2013, CRH services carried an estimated 672 million passengers equivalent to 32% of all rail journeys in China, and CRH passenger volume reached 221.7 billion passenger-km. The average distance travelled reached 330km and average distances are increasing steadily as the network expands. The large number of passengers on short-distance CRH services lowers the average.
The two busiest lines are Beijing - Shanghai and Beijing - Guangzhou, each estimated to carry more than 100 million passengers in 2014. Few of these passengers travelled end-to-end and the average trip length on both corridors is about 500km. The first long-distance line, the 969km Wuhan - Guangzhou line carried around 50 million passengers in 2013, about 14 million of whom came from interline traffic, illustrating network effects. Around half of the ridership on this route came from conventional services with the remaining traffic being new-to-rail. According to a report in the People's Railway Post in January 2014, the average seat occupancy on CRH services was 70% in 2013.
While HSR has experienced stronger growth than air transport, the two modes remain quite different in their features. In 2013, twice as many passengers travelled on CRH services (672 million) as domestic flights (327 million) and while domestic air traffic increased continuously at an average of 13% per year between 2008 and 2013, CRH growth has been substantially faster, averaging 39% per year. However, the average air trip was substantially longer at 1363km in 2012 and is getting longer, presumably as flights covering distances of less than 800km tend to be withdrawn when faced with high-speed rail competition.
For short trips (less than 150km), car and bus often remain competitive, especially if the high-speed station is located far from the city centre, while for journeys of more than 1000km air is still an attractive option. Nevertheless, the reliability, frequency and comfort of CRH services make rail competitive for most middle-distance trips and in some cities, such as Baoding, CRH has even become a commuting option.
While the high-speed network in China will quickly reach maturity, traffic is still in its early days as the experience of Japan and France, the two leaders in high-speed traffic outside China, has shown. Judging from both of these examples, and from the forecast increase in mobility in China, the current level of traffic is relatively strong. In 2013 after five years of CRH operations, high-speed passenger density (defined as passenger-km divided by the average length of high-speed lines in operation) had reached 22.5 million, close to the level reached in France (25 million) after 32 years of operation. While it will take longer to reach the current level in Japan (36 million), China's current level of traffic compares favourably with Japan at the same stage of development.
Considering the overall development context in China, rapid traffic growth looks set to continue over the next two decades, with levels closely related to the pace of economic development. This network also offers high transport capacity, a feature particularly relevant during the peak traffic periods. Experience in France indicates traffic could be further expanded by offering differentiated pricing strategies based on occupancy rates.
The level of demand seen so far confirms a strong need for such a service along core corridors, and passengers' willingness to pay higher fares.
In May 2013 CRC, the World Bank and China's Third Railway Survey and Design Institute surveyed 1001 passengers on conventional and high-speed trains on the Tianjin - Jinan and Jilin - Changchun routes. This showed that a large proportion of high-speed passengers - 62% based on the Tianjin - Jinan route - belong to the 25-55 age group. Many of these passengers were travelling for business, with high-speed rail facilitating an increase in trip frequency for businesses.
The research found that a broad range of travellers from different income levels choose CRH for its comfort, safety and punctuality over existing alternatives. Users perceive it as facilitating reunions with family and friends, tourism, and access to job opportunities.
The self-reported income levels from the on-train survey suggests that the majority of passengers had monthly income of less than Yuan 5000 ($US 805) per month (50-70% of users in the two case studies). The high-speed passengers' average income was 35-50% higher than that of passengers on conventional trains. High-speed appears to have filled a gap in the type of services previously offered.
As the network develops, there will be a clear need to pay careful attention to the overall door-to-door trip experience for travellers. This includes dealing with aspects that sometimes extend beyond the remit of the railway, for example by improving station access, and, in particular, reducing the waiting times for taxis or ensuring high frequency local public transport services. It also includes optimising train frequencies and stops based on emerging trip patterns and user surveys, introducing flexible ticket prices reflecting peak/off-peak periods, and introducing convenient e-ticketing.
By focusing on these aspects, and on the efficient operation of the network, high-speed rail in China can be expected to continue to experience substantial growth for years to come.
.
TaiShang
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"While HSR has experienced stronger growth than air transport, the two modes remain quite different in their features. In 2013, twice as many passengers travelled on CRH services (672 million) as domestic flights (327 million) and while domestic air traffic increased continuously at an average of 13% per year between 2008 and 2013, CRH growth has been substantially faster, averaging 39% per year. However, the average air trip was substantially longer at 1363km in 2012 and is getting longer, presumably as flights covering distances of less than 800km tend to be withdrawn when faced with high-speed rail competition."
Amazing!
Five times as many passengers using China’s HSR network than in 2008
Photo: GuoZhongHua/ shutterstock.com.
Passenger growth on China’s high-speed rail network does justify the level of investment being made with annual passenger numbers rising from 128 million in 2008 to 672 million in 2013, a new report by the World Bank has suggested.
More than 2.9 billion passengers have travelled across China by high-speed train since April 2007 and in 2013, China’s high-speed rail network recorded 214 billion passenger kilometres – more than the rest of the world put together.
The report – High-Speed Railways in China: A Look at Traffic – seems to suggest that China’s substantial investment in high-speed rail over the past decade is being justified by the system’s increasing patronage.
The research also looks the types of passengers using high-speed trains in China and how passengers travel habits are changing because of the introduction of new high-speed routes.
Gerald Ollivier, a World Bank senior transport specialist and co-author of the paper, said: “Understanding and addressing passenger needs are critical to achieving the full impact of the high-speed rail network."
Amazing!
Five times as many passengers using China’s HSR network than in 2008
Photo: GuoZhongHua/ shutterstock.com.
Passenger growth on China’s high-speed rail network does justify the level of investment being made with annual passenger numbers rising from 128 million in 2008 to 672 million in 2013, a new report by the World Bank has suggested.
More than 2.9 billion passengers have travelled across China by high-speed train since April 2007 and in 2013, China’s high-speed rail network recorded 214 billion passenger kilometres – more than the rest of the world put together.
The report – High-Speed Railways in China: A Look at Traffic – seems to suggest that China’s substantial investment in high-speed rail over the past decade is being justified by the system’s increasing patronage.
The research also looks the types of passengers using high-speed trains in China and how passengers travel habits are changing because of the introduction of new high-speed routes.
Gerald Ollivier, a World Bank senior transport specialist and co-author of the paper, said: “Understanding and addressing passenger needs are critical to achieving the full impact of the high-speed rail network."
AndrewJin
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HSR is part of my life. Totally give up bus and airplane if HSR is available"While HSR has experienced stronger growth than air transport, the two modes remain quite different in their features. In 2013, twice as many passengers travelled on CRH services (672 million) as domestic flights (327 million) and while domestic air traffic increased continuously at an average of 13% per year between 2008 and 2013, CRH growth has been substantially faster, averaging 39% per year. However, the average air trip was substantially longer at 1363km in 2012 and is getting longer, presumably as flights covering distances of less than 800km tend to be withdrawn when faced with high-speed rail competition."
Amazing!
Five times as many passengers using China’s HSR network than in 2008
Photo: GuoZhongHua/ shutterstock.com.
Passenger growth on China’s high-speed rail network does justify the level of investment being made with annual passenger numbers rising from 128 million in 2008 to 672 million in 2013, a new report by the World Bank has suggested.
More than 2.9 billion passengers have travelled across China by high-speed train since April 2007 and in 2013, China’s high-speed rail network recorded 214 billion passenger kilometres – more than the rest of the world put together.
The report – High-Speed Railways in China: A Look at Traffic – seems to suggest that China’s substantial investment in high-speed rail over the past decade is being justified by the system’s increasing patronage.
The research also looks the types of passengers using high-speed trains in China and how passengers travel habits are changing because of the introduction of new high-speed routes.
Gerald Ollivier, a World Bank senior transport specialist and co-author of the paper, said: “Understanding and addressing passenger needs are critical to achieving the full impact of the high-speed rail network."
cirr
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There are 7450km of new expressways built in 2014 in China.
Historical Development of Expressway Length in China
Year Distance(km)
01-01-1988 0
01-01-1989 147
01-01-1990 271
01-01-1991 522
01-01-1992 574
01-01-1993 652
01-01-1994 1,145
01-01-1995 1,603
01-01-1996 2,141
01-01-1997 3,422
01-01-1998 4,771
01-01-1999 8,733
01-01-2000 11,605
01-01-2001 16,314
01-01-2002 19,453
01-01-2003 25,200
01-01-2004 29,800
01-01-2005 34,300
01-01-2006 41,005
01-01-2007 45,339
01-01-2008 53,913
01-01-2009 60,346
01-01-2010 65,065
01-01-2011 74,100
01-01-2012 84,900
01-01-2013 96,200
01-01-2014 104,468
01-01-2015 111,918
Historical Development of Expressway Length in China
Year Distance(km)
01-01-1988 0
01-01-1989 147
01-01-1990 271
01-01-1991 522
01-01-1992 574
01-01-1993 652
01-01-1994 1,145
01-01-1995 1,603
01-01-1996 2,141
01-01-1997 3,422
01-01-1998 4,771
01-01-1999 8,733
01-01-2000 11,605
01-01-2001 16,314
01-01-2002 19,453
01-01-2003 25,200
01-01-2004 29,800
01-01-2005 34,300
01-01-2006 41,005
01-01-2007 45,339
01-01-2008 53,913
01-01-2009 60,346
01-01-2010 65,065
01-01-2011 74,100
01-01-2012 84,900
01-01-2013 96,200
01-01-2014 104,468
01-01-2015 111,918
AndrewJin
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this picture does not fully cover all lines, bro.
even omit some existing lines by Feb.2015
ahojunk
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I saw this map on the internet and I just thought of sharing.
Sorry, I wasn't aware that this pic doesn't cover all lines.
If you have an updated and more accurate pic, please post and share.
AndrewJin
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you mean planned one or in operation?
cirr
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The next boom in transport investment will be the construction of intercity express rails that criss-cross the major city clusters up and down the country。
China's rail expansion shifts to intercity lines
Global Times 2015-01-19 09:47:00 (Beijing Time)
On the 814 bus, one of the major nine bus routes between Hebei's Yanjiao township and downtown Beijing, the air was filled with the smell of commuters' breakfasts. Every day, half of the town's 300,000 residents reportedly squeeze intopackedvehicles tocommute. To ease the traffic pressure, bullet trains began taking Yanjiao's commuters to and from Beijing each day as of January 12, cutting the travel time in half.
However, most of Yanjiao's commuters cannot take the train due to the limited number of seats.
But the commuters from Yanjiao and other areas around Beijing may find travel easier soon as more intercity railways are expected to be built.
Hebei Province has said that it will build four rail lines, including routes between Beijing's Yizhuang area and the Hebei's Langfang, and between Beijing's Fangshan district and Hebei's Zhuozhou, news portal people.cn reported.
These projects are part of a new wave of railway construction planned for the coming few years.
As of the end of 2014, China has over 110,000 kilometers of railways, 15,000 kilometers of which are high-speed railways.
Although the details of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) for railway development, drafted by the National Railway Administration and submitted to higher authorities for deliberation in January 2015, have not yet been revealed, railway experts predict that railway development in less developed regions, as well as the growth of intercity and suburban routes will be apriorityand that investment in these areas will remain high.
Westward railway development
"As most majortrunklines have been built in eastern regions while railways in middle and western China are weakly linked, future investment is expected to focus on central and western regions to drive economic development there," Cheng Shidong, a director at the Institute of Comprehensive Transportation with the National Development and Reform Commission, told the Global Times. The majority of the railway projects approved last year are to be built in those areas, Cheng said.
In one month alone, the NDRC approved three railway projects worth more than 10-billion yuan ($1.61 billion) each in central and western regions, including Chongqing Municipality, Henan, Hubei and Hunan provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the 21st Century Business Herald reported.
In September 2014, Premier Li Keqiang stressed that infrastructure construction willtilttoward central and western regions during the 13th Five-Year Plan.
The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is often mentioned as being a key area for infrastructure development by rail experts on account of its strategic significance for the country's Silk Road Economic Belt initiative and the need to maintain stability.
"Oneprerequisitefor making Xinjiang a new engine of China's economic growth is toconstructrailways, facilitating easy travel to sparsely populated areas," said Gao Bai, a sociology professor with Duke University in the US.
After labor-intensive industries are transferred to Xinjiang, [agricultural]products manufactured in Xinjiang can be exported to Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe by train, which is much faster than transporting goods by sea, Gao told the Global Times.
President Xi Jinping proposed in 2013 that China and Central Asian nations collaborate in building the Silk Road Economic Belt.
"[Besides,] strengthening the connection between the capital Urumqi and other cities in Xinjiang, intercity railways will play a role in maintaining its social stability," said Wang Mengshu, a senior rail expert from the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Wang said that when cities in Xinjiang are connected by high speed rail links, the government will encourage more businesses to move to the region from eastern and central China, stimulating the local economy and providing job opportunities for locals.
2015 will witness the launch of three intercity railways from Urumqi to the southern Xinjiang cities of Turpan, Korla as well as the Zhundong development zone in northern Xinjiang, which is rich in oil and coal.
Cheng Zhongxing, a deputy director of the high-speed railway development study center at Southwest Jiaotong University, expressed regret over the fact that the high-speed rail link between Urumqi and Beijing that will start full operation in 2017 is not as fast as it could have been.
"The top speed was originally going to be 350 kilometers per hour, at which pace passengers can arrive in Beijing in eight hours, while now the top speed is only 200 kilometers," he said. "Eight hours could have meant a much closer mental attachment to China's capital for Xinjiang."
Intercity and suburban railways
Following the completion of major high-speed railway lines across China, the focus will be shifted onto facilitating short trips via the construction of intercity railways among city clusters and building suburban railways for commuters, Cheng Shidong said.
"Since cities in the Yangtze River Delta in East China, including Shanghai, Nanjing and Ningbo, have strong economic ties with each other, frequent business trips among the cities will need intercity railways," he said, adding that the Pearl River Delta in South China also boasts these kinds of "mature economic circles."
However, there are only a few "mature economic circles" in China, Cheng Shidong said, adding that "laying intercity railways will be a mid- and long-term strategy when more circles emerge."
Guangxi, Shandong and Zhejiang have disclosed their intercity railway plans. Zhejiang's plans to construct four intercity railway networks - with cities including Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou and Taizhou as hubs - were approved by the NDRC in late December. Journeys between the cities and counties will take only one hour, the National Business Daily reported on December 24.
Zhao Jian, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, agreed with Cheng and said suburban railways will also be on the agenda.
"Metropolises havenumerousresidents that live in suburbs … About 40,000 kilometers of tracks are expected to be laid for commuters, which will provide ample room for the development of suburban railways," Zhao told the Global Times.
Debate over further expansion
Experts agreed that large-scale investment in railway construction will be maintained, given the risks China faces from its economic downturn and excess production capacity.
"As China has suffered from slower economic growth, the government will resort to investment in railways, which is afeasibleway to boost the real economy," Gao said, adding that other sectors, such as the solar and property development industries have already faced the problem of overbuilt production capacity.
Also, thecementand steel industries have already suffered from overproduction, a problem that can be ameliorated by railway construction, said Cheng Zhongxing.
However, Zhao called for the construction of high-speed railways to halt in July as the debts racked up by the State-owned China Railway Corporation have surpassed 3 trillion yuan and most high-speed railways cannot earn enough profit to justify the necessary investment due to inadequate passenger numbers.
China's rail expansion shifts to intercity lines?Beijing news, English news, latest beijingnews,www.bjd.com.cn
China's rail expansion shifts to intercity lines
Global Times 2015-01-19 09:47:00 (Beijing Time)
On the 814 bus, one of the major nine bus routes between Hebei's Yanjiao township and downtown Beijing, the air was filled with the smell of commuters' breakfasts. Every day, half of the town's 300,000 residents reportedly squeeze intopackedvehicles tocommute. To ease the traffic pressure, bullet trains began taking Yanjiao's commuters to and from Beijing each day as of January 12, cutting the travel time in half.
However, most of Yanjiao's commuters cannot take the train due to the limited number of seats.
But the commuters from Yanjiao and other areas around Beijing may find travel easier soon as more intercity railways are expected to be built.
Hebei Province has said that it will build four rail lines, including routes between Beijing's Yizhuang area and the Hebei's Langfang, and between Beijing's Fangshan district and Hebei's Zhuozhou, news portal people.cn reported.
These projects are part of a new wave of railway construction planned for the coming few years.
As of the end of 2014, China has over 110,000 kilometers of railways, 15,000 kilometers of which are high-speed railways.
Although the details of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) for railway development, drafted by the National Railway Administration and submitted to higher authorities for deliberation in January 2015, have not yet been revealed, railway experts predict that railway development in less developed regions, as well as the growth of intercity and suburban routes will be apriorityand that investment in these areas will remain high.
Westward railway development
"As most majortrunklines have been built in eastern regions while railways in middle and western China are weakly linked, future investment is expected to focus on central and western regions to drive economic development there," Cheng Shidong, a director at the Institute of Comprehensive Transportation with the National Development and Reform Commission, told the Global Times. The majority of the railway projects approved last year are to be built in those areas, Cheng said.
In one month alone, the NDRC approved three railway projects worth more than 10-billion yuan ($1.61 billion) each in central and western regions, including Chongqing Municipality, Henan, Hubei and Hunan provinces and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the 21st Century Business Herald reported.
In September 2014, Premier Li Keqiang stressed that infrastructure construction willtilttoward central and western regions during the 13th Five-Year Plan.
The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is often mentioned as being a key area for infrastructure development by rail experts on account of its strategic significance for the country's Silk Road Economic Belt initiative and the need to maintain stability.
"Oneprerequisitefor making Xinjiang a new engine of China's economic growth is toconstructrailways, facilitating easy travel to sparsely populated areas," said Gao Bai, a sociology professor with Duke University in the US.
After labor-intensive industries are transferred to Xinjiang, [agricultural]products manufactured in Xinjiang can be exported to Central Asia, the Middle East and Europe by train, which is much faster than transporting goods by sea, Gao told the Global Times.
President Xi Jinping proposed in 2013 that China and Central Asian nations collaborate in building the Silk Road Economic Belt.
"[Besides,] strengthening the connection between the capital Urumqi and other cities in Xinjiang, intercity railways will play a role in maintaining its social stability," said Wang Mengshu, a senior rail expert from the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
Wang said that when cities in Xinjiang are connected by high speed rail links, the government will encourage more businesses to move to the region from eastern and central China, stimulating the local economy and providing job opportunities for locals.
2015 will witness the launch of three intercity railways from Urumqi to the southern Xinjiang cities of Turpan, Korla as well as the Zhundong development zone in northern Xinjiang, which is rich in oil and coal.
Cheng Zhongxing, a deputy director of the high-speed railway development study center at Southwest Jiaotong University, expressed regret over the fact that the high-speed rail link between Urumqi and Beijing that will start full operation in 2017 is not as fast as it could have been.
"The top speed was originally going to be 350 kilometers per hour, at which pace passengers can arrive in Beijing in eight hours, while now the top speed is only 200 kilometers," he said. "Eight hours could have meant a much closer mental attachment to China's capital for Xinjiang."
Intercity and suburban railways
Following the completion of major high-speed railway lines across China, the focus will be shifted onto facilitating short trips via the construction of intercity railways among city clusters and building suburban railways for commuters, Cheng Shidong said.
"Since cities in the Yangtze River Delta in East China, including Shanghai, Nanjing and Ningbo, have strong economic ties with each other, frequent business trips among the cities will need intercity railways," he said, adding that the Pearl River Delta in South China also boasts these kinds of "mature economic circles."
However, there are only a few "mature economic circles" in China, Cheng Shidong said, adding that "laying intercity railways will be a mid- and long-term strategy when more circles emerge."
Guangxi, Shandong and Zhejiang have disclosed their intercity railway plans. Zhejiang's plans to construct four intercity railway networks - with cities including Hangzhou, Ningbo, Wenzhou and Taizhou as hubs - were approved by the NDRC in late December. Journeys between the cities and counties will take only one hour, the National Business Daily reported on December 24.
Zhao Jian, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, agreed with Cheng and said suburban railways will also be on the agenda.
"Metropolises havenumerousresidents that live in suburbs … About 40,000 kilometers of tracks are expected to be laid for commuters, which will provide ample room for the development of suburban railways," Zhao told the Global Times.
Debate over further expansion
Experts agreed that large-scale investment in railway construction will be maintained, given the risks China faces from its economic downturn and excess production capacity.
"As China has suffered from slower economic growth, the government will resort to investment in railways, which is afeasibleway to boost the real economy," Gao said, adding that other sectors, such as the solar and property development industries have already faced the problem of overbuilt production capacity.
Also, thecementand steel industries have already suffered from overproduction, a problem that can be ameliorated by railway construction, said Cheng Zhongxing.
However, Zhao called for the construction of high-speed railways to halt in July as the debts racked up by the State-owned China Railway Corporation have surpassed 3 trillion yuan and most high-speed railways cannot earn enough profit to justify the necessary investment due to inadequate passenger numbers.
China's rail expansion shifts to intercity lines?Beijing news, English news, latest beijingnews,www.bjd.com.cn
AndrewJin
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Still, a lot of keys lines are awaiting . For example, Beijing to Kowloon( along the old Beijing-Kowloon line), kunming-nanning, a second Shanghai-Beijing( the first full use), a second Shanghai-Chengdu( original only 200km/h) , etc. Look at the density of railway of Japan(all lines including normal speed), long way to go for China!
TaiShang
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Chinese high-speed: an evaluation of traffic | International Railway Journal
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Chinese high-speed: an evaluation of traffic
Written by Gerald Ollivier, Richard Bullock, Yin Jing, Jitendra Sondhri, Nanyan Zhou, World Bank Beijing
The extraordinary growth of China's high-speed network has been one of the defining rail trends of recent years, but the pace of expansion has made charting traffic development a challenging process. Gerald Ollivier, Richard Bullock, Yin Jing, Jitendra Sondhri and Nanyan Zhou from the World Bank's Beijing office uncover usage trends from the initial years of operation and consider how traffic might develop in the future.
IN terms of high-speed rail (HSR) network length, no country comes close to China, whose system had reached 12,183km by October 2014. To put this in context, China has constructed almost four times as much high-speed railway as Spain, which has the world's second largest network. Today most of the metropolitan regions in China are either connected, or in the process of being connected, to lines with a maximum speed of 200km/h or above.
By July 2014, China Railways Corporation (CRC) was operating more than 1330 China Rail High Speed (CRH) services a day on both the high-speed network and upgraded conventional lines. More lines are being built and upgraded to connect all cities of more than 500,000 people with services of at least 160km/h by this year. Since China's first truly high-speed line only opened in 2008, this represents a radical change in the provision of passenger services by CRC in a very short time.
However, building new infrastructure or providing services is not an end in itself and when the high-speed programme was announced there was much debate over whether the projected traffic would materialise and whether the cost of constructing such a system could be justified.
Nearly seven years after the opening of the first high-speed line, insights into usage have begun to emerge and many important questions can now be answered. What is the traffic level and how does it compare with air traffic? Who is travelling on CRH services? Has high-speed rail benefited ordinary citizens? These answers are important for informing policy and regulations, as well as optimising train services.
By October 1 2014, CRH had carried more than 2.9 billion passengers since its launch. Traffic increased from 128 million in 2008 to 672 million in 2013 with annual growth of around 39% during this period.
In 2013, Chinese high-speed traffic reached 214 billion passenger-km, slightly more traffic than the rest of the world's high-speed networks combined and around 2.5 times the volume carried in Japan, which has the second-busiest network. These are substantial numbers for a system that is still in its early days.
China is unique in many of its characteristics, be it for its sheer land area (9.6 million km²), the long distances between north and south, east and west, its current stage of economic development (GDP of $US 6807 per capita in 2013) and its population density (141 people/km²), particularly in central and eastern provinces. It has many well-dispersed large cities of more than 500,000 inhabitants located 200-900km apart, ideal territory for high-speed rail.
China is also at a turning point in its urbanisation, a strategic time to put in place the transport backbone that will stimulate the overall competitiveness of cities. In 2013, 53% of the population was urbanised but by 2030 this will increase to 70% or around 1 billion people.
According to the 2010 census 221 cities have a population of more than 500,000 and 81 cities are home to more than a million inhabitants and more are expected to join their ranks as urbanisation continues. Those cities will seek to develop their service industries and play a major role in the growing domestic economy. Competitiveness will be influenced by the quality of their transport links to innovation networks and to supply chains, both national and international.
China is also seeking to rebalance economic growth geographically, and after 30 years of rapid development in the eastern provinces, development of central and western provinces has become a prime objective for the government, with improved connectivity expected to play a central role in this rebalancing. The completion of high-speed links to Xinjiang in the west and Guizhou in central China at the end of 2014 demonstrates this policy in action.
As these changes occur, international benchmarks show that the average distance travelled is likely to increase significantly as China's per capita GDP increases. If the average Chinese citizen were to travel as much as the average Japanese, European or American, the distance they travel would be multiplied by four, five or 10 respectively by 2030, compared with 2012 levels. As the Chinese economy grows in sophistication and the population becomes more affluent, service levels will also need to be raised.
While new transport demands are emerging and existing transport needs are growing, the CRC network is already one of the most densely used in the world, with robust growth between 2009 and 2013. Overall passenger traffic grew by 5.5% per year during this period reaching 2.1 billion passengers or 1060 billion passenger-km in 2013. Railfreight grew by 6% per year to 3.6 billion tonnes, or 2633 billion tonne-km in 2013. These are large volumes compared with the size of the network (103,100km in 2013).
The combination of rapidly growing traffic and of high existing traffic density meant that major investment would be needed if rail continues to play a key role in the economy.
The government's Mid-to-Long Term Railway Network Plan adopted in 2004, and updated in 2008, laid out a development strategy for the network for the period up to 2020, including the connection of all provincial capitals and cities above 500,000 people to a rapid rail network of 45,000km, including about 16,000km of high-speed lines. The programme was later accelerated to achieve most of these objectives by 2015.
The CRH network was launched in April 2007 with a new generation of trains capable of operating at up to 250km/h, although initially most mileage was covered on upgraded conventional routes. The need to share track with freight trains meant average station-to-station speeds remained moderate, even if maximum speeds had improved substantially. With a 10-hour trip, the average speed between Beijing and Shanghai had reached 132km/h.
In 2008, the first of a new generation of high-speed lines began operating. The Beijing - Tianjin high-speed line opened in August 2008, with a maximum operating speed of 350km/h and an average station-to-station speed of 240km/h. It quickly established itself as a competitive form of transport, carrying over 16 million passengers in its first year of operation.
By December 2012, both the 1318km Beijing - Shanghai and the 2281km Beijing West - Guangzhou high-speed lines had been completed, connecting the three most vibrant economic clusters in China. By international standards these lines offer extremely competitive journey times, with the caveat that many stations are located outside central areas, and thus require additional connection time. For example the Beijing West - Zhengzhou East CRH service offers an average station-to-station speed of 289km/h with a journey time of 2h 24min for the 693km trip. The average speed for Beijing - Shanghai is 275km/h and the 1318km journey takes just 4h 48min.
On July 1 2014, CRC introduced a new summer timetable with 1330 CRH services per day. Aside from increasing CRH capacity, the new schedule enabled a shift towards more high-speed services and an increase in freight traffic on conventional lines, which was one of the original goals of developing the high-speed network.
Nevertheless, the new timetables raised some concerns. Service levels did not differentiate between peak and off-peak periods and few discounts were offered for services with lower demand. This may result in lower occupancy rates on off-peak trains, while tickets for peak trains will remain difficult to obtain. A number of conventional services were also replaced by CRH, reducing options for low or middle-income passengers who may be less time sensitive but more price sensitive. These concerns could be addressed in part by introducing additional flexibility in pricing with discounted tickets during off-peak periods.
All CRH trains are formed of eight or 16 cars with capacity ranging from 494 to 1299 seats. The busiest routes can be served by up to 101 services per direction per day, with up to eight trains per hour at peak times. Traffic density on such routes is estimated at about 30-40 million passengers. Two types of services are provided; express trains stopping only at major cities while other trains stop at intermediate stations. On medium density routes, 40-50 trains operate daily.
Fares vary depending on the speed of the services. Second class fares for 200 to 250km/h HSR services are about $US 0.045 per km, similar to intercity bus fares. Second class fares for 300 to 350km/h HSR services are $US 0.077 per km, lower than or comparable with discounted air fares. This is three to four times the fare for conventional express trains, but tickets for these services are often difficult to obtain and the level of service is significantly lower. The low-cost of high-speed fares compared with other countries reflects the substantial traffic densities and occupancy rates, and the lower cost base for construction and operation.
During 2008-2013, total rail passenger volume continued to grow at 7.6% annually, but with a change in traffic composition. While conventional rail traffic grew 1.5% annually, CRH traffic has increased 39% per annum since 2008. The introduction of CRH services has not caused a reduction in ridership on the conventional network, but has instead fuelled accelerated growth, which the previous network, close to its full capacity, was unable to achieve.
By October 1 2014, CRH had carried an estimated 2.9 billion passengers, an estimated 1.9 billion of whom travelled over the dedicated high-speed network for at least part of their journey.
In 2013, CRH services carried an estimated 672 million passengers equivalent to 32% of all rail journeys in China, and CRH passenger volume reached 221.7 billion passenger-km. The average distance travelled reached 330km and average distances are increasing steadily as the network expands. The large number of passengers on short-distance CRH services lowers the average.
The two busiest lines are Beijing - Shanghai and Beijing - Guangzhou, each estimated to carry more than 100 million passengers in 2014. Few of these passengers travelled end-to-end and the average trip length on both corridors is about 500km. The first long-distance line, the 969km Wuhan - Guangzhou line carried around 50 million passengers in 2013, about 14 million of whom came from interline traffic, illustrating network effects. Around half of the ridership on this route came from conventional services with the remaining traffic being new-to-rail. According to a report in the People's Railway Post in January 2014, the average seat occupancy on CRH services was 70% in 2013.
While HSR has experienced stronger growth than air transport, the two modes remain quite different in their features. In 2013, twice as many passengers travelled on CRH services (672 million) as domestic flights (327 million) and while domestic air traffic increased continuously at an average of 13% per year between 2008 and 2013, CRH growth has been substantially faster, averaging 39% per year. However, the average air trip was substantially longer at 1363km in 2012 and is getting longer, presumably as flights covering distances of less than 800km tend to be withdrawn when faced with high-speed rail competition.
For short trips (less than 150km), car and bus often remain competitive, especially if the high-speed station is located far from the city centre, while for journeys of more than 1000km air is still an attractive option. Nevertheless, the reliability, frequency and comfort of CRH services make rail competitive for most middle-distance trips and in some cities, such as Baoding, CRH has even become a commuting option.
While the high-speed network in China will quickly reach maturity, traffic is still in its early days as the experience of Japan and France, the two leaders in high-speed traffic outside China, has shown. Judging from both of these examples, and from the forecast increase in mobility in China, the current level of traffic is relatively strong. In 2013 after five years of CRH operations, high-speed passenger density (defined as passenger-km divided by the average length of high-speed lines in operation) had reached 22.5 million, close to the level reached in France (25 million) after 32 years of operation. While it will take longer to reach the current level in Japan (36 million), China's current level of traffic compares favourably with Japan at the same stage of development.
Considering the overall development context in China, rapid traffic growth looks set to continue over the next two decades, with levels closely related to the pace of economic development. This network also offers high transport capacity, a feature particularly relevant during the peak traffic periods. Experience in France indicates traffic could be further expanded by offering differentiated pricing strategies based on occupancy rates.
The level of demand seen so far confirms a strong need for such a service along core corridors, and passengers' willingness to pay higher fares.
In May 2013 CRC, the World Bank and China's Third Railway Survey and Design Institute surveyed 1001 passengers on conventional and high-speed trains on the Tianjin - Jinan and Jilin - Changchun routes. This showed that a large proportion of high-speed passengers - 62% based on the Tianjin - Jinan route - belong to the 25-55 age group. Many of these passengers were travelling for business, with high-speed rail facilitating an increase in trip frequency for businesses.
The research found that a broad range of travellers from different income levels choose CRH for its comfort, safety and punctuality over existing alternatives. Users perceive it as facilitating reunions with family and friends, tourism, and access to job opportunities.
The self-reported income levels from the on-train survey suggests that the majority of passengers had monthly income of less than Yuan 5000 ($US 805) per month (50-70% of users in the two case studies). The high-speed passengers' average income was 35-50% higher than that of passengers on conventional trains. High-speed appears to have filled a gap in the type of services previously offered.
As the network develops, there will be a clear need to pay careful attention to the overall door-to-door trip experience for travellers. This includes dealing with aspects that sometimes extend beyond the remit of the railway, for example by improving station access, and, in particular, reducing the waiting times for taxis or ensuring high frequency local public transport services. It also includes optimising train frequencies and stops based on emerging trip patterns and user surveys, introducing flexible ticket prices reflecting peak/off-peak periods, and introducing convenient e-ticketing.
By focusing on these aspects, and on the efficient operation of the network, high-speed rail in China can be expected to continue to experience substantial growth for years to come.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Chinese high-speed: an evaluation of traffic
Written by Gerald Ollivier, Richard Bullock, Yin Jing, Jitendra Sondhri, Nanyan Zhou, World Bank Beijing
The extraordinary growth of China's high-speed network has been one of the defining rail trends of recent years, but the pace of expansion has made charting traffic development a challenging process. Gerald Ollivier, Richard Bullock, Yin Jing, Jitendra Sondhri and Nanyan Zhou from the World Bank's Beijing office uncover usage trends from the initial years of operation and consider how traffic might develop in the future.
IN terms of high-speed rail (HSR) network length, no country comes close to China, whose system had reached 12,183km by October 2014. To put this in context, China has constructed almost four times as much high-speed railway as Spain, which has the world's second largest network. Today most of the metropolitan regions in China are either connected, or in the process of being connected, to lines with a maximum speed of 200km/h or above.
By July 2014, China Railways Corporation (CRC) was operating more than 1330 China Rail High Speed (CRH) services a day on both the high-speed network and upgraded conventional lines. More lines are being built and upgraded to connect all cities of more than 500,000 people with services of at least 160km/h by this year. Since China's first truly high-speed line only opened in 2008, this represents a radical change in the provision of passenger services by CRC in a very short time.
However, building new infrastructure or providing services is not an end in itself and when the high-speed programme was announced there was much debate over whether the projected traffic would materialise and whether the cost of constructing such a system could be justified.
Nearly seven years after the opening of the first high-speed line, insights into usage have begun to emerge and many important questions can now be answered. What is the traffic level and how does it compare with air traffic? Who is travelling on CRH services? Has high-speed rail benefited ordinary citizens? These answers are important for informing policy and regulations, as well as optimising train services.
By October 1 2014, CRH had carried more than 2.9 billion passengers since its launch. Traffic increased from 128 million in 2008 to 672 million in 2013 with annual growth of around 39% during this period.
In 2013, Chinese high-speed traffic reached 214 billion passenger-km, slightly more traffic than the rest of the world's high-speed networks combined and around 2.5 times the volume carried in Japan, which has the second-busiest network. These are substantial numbers for a system that is still in its early days.
China is unique in many of its characteristics, be it for its sheer land area (9.6 million km²), the long distances between north and south, east and west, its current stage of economic development (GDP of $US 6807 per capita in 2013) and its population density (141 people/km²), particularly in central and eastern provinces. It has many well-dispersed large cities of more than 500,000 inhabitants located 200-900km apart, ideal territory for high-speed rail.
China is also at a turning point in its urbanisation, a strategic time to put in place the transport backbone that will stimulate the overall competitiveness of cities. In 2013, 53% of the population was urbanised but by 2030 this will increase to 70% or around 1 billion people.
According to the 2010 census 221 cities have a population of more than 500,000 and 81 cities are home to more than a million inhabitants and more are expected to join their ranks as urbanisation continues. Those cities will seek to develop their service industries and play a major role in the growing domestic economy. Competitiveness will be influenced by the quality of their transport links to innovation networks and to supply chains, both national and international.
China is also seeking to rebalance economic growth geographically, and after 30 years of rapid development in the eastern provinces, development of central and western provinces has become a prime objective for the government, with improved connectivity expected to play a central role in this rebalancing. The completion of high-speed links to Xinjiang in the west and Guizhou in central China at the end of 2014 demonstrates this policy in action.
As these changes occur, international benchmarks show that the average distance travelled is likely to increase significantly as China's per capita GDP increases. If the average Chinese citizen were to travel as much as the average Japanese, European or American, the distance they travel would be multiplied by four, five or 10 respectively by 2030, compared with 2012 levels. As the Chinese economy grows in sophistication and the population becomes more affluent, service levels will also need to be raised.
While new transport demands are emerging and existing transport needs are growing, the CRC network is already one of the most densely used in the world, with robust growth between 2009 and 2013. Overall passenger traffic grew by 5.5% per year during this period reaching 2.1 billion passengers or 1060 billion passenger-km in 2013. Railfreight grew by 6% per year to 3.6 billion tonnes, or 2633 billion tonne-km in 2013. These are large volumes compared with the size of the network (103,100km in 2013).
The combination of rapidly growing traffic and of high existing traffic density meant that major investment would be needed if rail continues to play a key role in the economy.
The government's Mid-to-Long Term Railway Network Plan adopted in 2004, and updated in 2008, laid out a development strategy for the network for the period up to 2020, including the connection of all provincial capitals and cities above 500,000 people to a rapid rail network of 45,000km, including about 16,000km of high-speed lines. The programme was later accelerated to achieve most of these objectives by 2015.
The CRH network was launched in April 2007 with a new generation of trains capable of operating at up to 250km/h, although initially most mileage was covered on upgraded conventional routes. The need to share track with freight trains meant average station-to-station speeds remained moderate, even if maximum speeds had improved substantially. With a 10-hour trip, the average speed between Beijing and Shanghai had reached 132km/h.
In 2008, the first of a new generation of high-speed lines began operating. The Beijing - Tianjin high-speed line opened in August 2008, with a maximum operating speed of 350km/h and an average station-to-station speed of 240km/h. It quickly established itself as a competitive form of transport, carrying over 16 million passengers in its first year of operation.
By December 2012, both the 1318km Beijing - Shanghai and the 2281km Beijing West - Guangzhou high-speed lines had been completed, connecting the three most vibrant economic clusters in China. By international standards these lines offer extremely competitive journey times, with the caveat that many stations are located outside central areas, and thus require additional connection time. For example the Beijing West - Zhengzhou East CRH service offers an average station-to-station speed of 289km/h with a journey time of 2h 24min for the 693km trip. The average speed for Beijing - Shanghai is 275km/h and the 1318km journey takes just 4h 48min.
On July 1 2014, CRC introduced a new summer timetable with 1330 CRH services per day. Aside from increasing CRH capacity, the new schedule enabled a shift towards more high-speed services and an increase in freight traffic on conventional lines, which was one of the original goals of developing the high-speed network.
Nevertheless, the new timetables raised some concerns. Service levels did not differentiate between peak and off-peak periods and few discounts were offered for services with lower demand. This may result in lower occupancy rates on off-peak trains, while tickets for peak trains will remain difficult to obtain. A number of conventional services were also replaced by CRH, reducing options for low or middle-income passengers who may be less time sensitive but more price sensitive. These concerns could be addressed in part by introducing additional flexibility in pricing with discounted tickets during off-peak periods.
All CRH trains are formed of eight or 16 cars with capacity ranging from 494 to 1299 seats. The busiest routes can be served by up to 101 services per direction per day, with up to eight trains per hour at peak times. Traffic density on such routes is estimated at about 30-40 million passengers. Two types of services are provided; express trains stopping only at major cities while other trains stop at intermediate stations. On medium density routes, 40-50 trains operate daily.
Fares vary depending on the speed of the services. Second class fares for 200 to 250km/h HSR services are about $US 0.045 per km, similar to intercity bus fares. Second class fares for 300 to 350km/h HSR services are $US 0.077 per km, lower than or comparable with discounted air fares. This is three to four times the fare for conventional express trains, but tickets for these services are often difficult to obtain and the level of service is significantly lower. The low-cost of high-speed fares compared with other countries reflects the substantial traffic densities and occupancy rates, and the lower cost base for construction and operation.
During 2008-2013, total rail passenger volume continued to grow at 7.6% annually, but with a change in traffic composition. While conventional rail traffic grew 1.5% annually, CRH traffic has increased 39% per annum since 2008. The introduction of CRH services has not caused a reduction in ridership on the conventional network, but has instead fuelled accelerated growth, which the previous network, close to its full capacity, was unable to achieve.
By October 1 2014, CRH had carried an estimated 2.9 billion passengers, an estimated 1.9 billion of whom travelled over the dedicated high-speed network for at least part of their journey.
In 2013, CRH services carried an estimated 672 million passengers equivalent to 32% of all rail journeys in China, and CRH passenger volume reached 221.7 billion passenger-km. The average distance travelled reached 330km and average distances are increasing steadily as the network expands. The large number of passengers on short-distance CRH services lowers the average.
The two busiest lines are Beijing - Shanghai and Beijing - Guangzhou, each estimated to carry more than 100 million passengers in 2014. Few of these passengers travelled end-to-end and the average trip length on both corridors is about 500km. The first long-distance line, the 969km Wuhan - Guangzhou line carried around 50 million passengers in 2013, about 14 million of whom came from interline traffic, illustrating network effects. Around half of the ridership on this route came from conventional services with the remaining traffic being new-to-rail. According to a report in the People's Railway Post in January 2014, the average seat occupancy on CRH services was 70% in 2013.
While HSR has experienced stronger growth than air transport, the two modes remain quite different in their features. In 2013, twice as many passengers travelled on CRH services (672 million) as domestic flights (327 million) and while domestic air traffic increased continuously at an average of 13% per year between 2008 and 2013, CRH growth has been substantially faster, averaging 39% per year. However, the average air trip was substantially longer at 1363km in 2012 and is getting longer, presumably as flights covering distances of less than 800km tend to be withdrawn when faced with high-speed rail competition.
For short trips (less than 150km), car and bus often remain competitive, especially if the high-speed station is located far from the city centre, while for journeys of more than 1000km air is still an attractive option. Nevertheless, the reliability, frequency and comfort of CRH services make rail competitive for most middle-distance trips and in some cities, such as Baoding, CRH has even become a commuting option.
While the high-speed network in China will quickly reach maturity, traffic is still in its early days as the experience of Japan and France, the two leaders in high-speed traffic outside China, has shown. Judging from both of these examples, and from the forecast increase in mobility in China, the current level of traffic is relatively strong. In 2013 after five years of CRH operations, high-speed passenger density (defined as passenger-km divided by the average length of high-speed lines in operation) had reached 22.5 million, close to the level reached in France (25 million) after 32 years of operation. While it will take longer to reach the current level in Japan (36 million), China's current level of traffic compares favourably with Japan at the same stage of development.
Considering the overall development context in China, rapid traffic growth looks set to continue over the next two decades, with levels closely related to the pace of economic development. This network also offers high transport capacity, a feature particularly relevant during the peak traffic periods. Experience in France indicates traffic could be further expanded by offering differentiated pricing strategies based on occupancy rates.
The level of demand seen so far confirms a strong need for such a service along core corridors, and passengers' willingness to pay higher fares.
In May 2013 CRC, the World Bank and China's Third Railway Survey and Design Institute surveyed 1001 passengers on conventional and high-speed trains on the Tianjin - Jinan and Jilin - Changchun routes. This showed that a large proportion of high-speed passengers - 62% based on the Tianjin - Jinan route - belong to the 25-55 age group. Many of these passengers were travelling for business, with high-speed rail facilitating an increase in trip frequency for businesses.
The research found that a broad range of travellers from different income levels choose CRH for its comfort, safety and punctuality over existing alternatives. Users perceive it as facilitating reunions with family and friends, tourism, and access to job opportunities.
The self-reported income levels from the on-train survey suggests that the majority of passengers had monthly income of less than Yuan 5000 ($US 805) per month (50-70% of users in the two case studies). The high-speed passengers' average income was 35-50% higher than that of passengers on conventional trains. High-speed appears to have filled a gap in the type of services previously offered.
As the network develops, there will be a clear need to pay careful attention to the overall door-to-door trip experience for travellers. This includes dealing with aspects that sometimes extend beyond the remit of the railway, for example by improving station access, and, in particular, reducing the waiting times for taxis or ensuring high frequency local public transport services. It also includes optimising train frequencies and stops based on emerging trip patterns and user surveys, introducing flexible ticket prices reflecting peak/off-peak periods, and introducing convenient e-ticketing.
By focusing on these aspects, and on the efficient operation of the network, high-speed rail in China can be expected to continue to experience substantial growth for years to come.
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There comes the global giant! 
Government approves merger of China's top two train makers
Source:Xinhua Published: 2015-3-6 14:56:56
China's state assets watchdog has approved a proposed merger of the country's top two bullet train makers, but obstacles remain to be cleared, both companies said on Thursday evening.
China CNR Corp. Ltd and China CSR Corp. Ltd announced that the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission has approved in principle their merger into a new company named CRRC Corporation Ltd.
But efforts still need to be made to meet the terms and conditions set in their merger deal, said the announcements, adding that both will publish any progress in the merger in a timely manner.
Shares of CNR and CSR surged by 6.9 percent and 7 percent in Thursday's trading, respectively.
Both are currently not available for comments.
The two companies announced the merger plan in late December, aiming to build a new transnational and globally leading solution provider of high-end railway transport equipment.
The new company will inherit all the assets, liabilities, businesses, staff, contracts, certificates as well as all other rights and obligations of CNR and CSR.
The merger will take place in the form of CNR to be merged into CSR through a stock swap agreement between the two companies-- 1 CNR share for 1.1 CSR shares.
The merger comes 15 years after the two were split in 2000. The then Ministry of Railways that became the China Railway Corporation in 2013, delineated the two companies' major sales domains with the Yellow River as the boundary. It also tried to set a boundary for the two in overseas markets to reduce competition.
The upcoming merger is expected to avoid "in-fighting" during exploration of the global market.
Government approves merger of China's top two train makers
Source:Xinhua Published: 2015-3-6 14:56:56
China's state assets watchdog has approved a proposed merger of the country's top two bullet train makers, but obstacles remain to be cleared, both companies said on Thursday evening.
China CNR Corp. Ltd and China CSR Corp. Ltd announced that the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission has approved in principle their merger into a new company named CRRC Corporation Ltd.
But efforts still need to be made to meet the terms and conditions set in their merger deal, said the announcements, adding that both will publish any progress in the merger in a timely manner.
Shares of CNR and CSR surged by 6.9 percent and 7 percent in Thursday's trading, respectively.
Both are currently not available for comments.
The two companies announced the merger plan in late December, aiming to build a new transnational and globally leading solution provider of high-end railway transport equipment.
The new company will inherit all the assets, liabilities, businesses, staff, contracts, certificates as well as all other rights and obligations of CNR and CSR.
The merger will take place in the form of CNR to be merged into CSR through a stock swap agreement between the two companies-- 1 CNR share for 1.1 CSR shares.
The merger comes 15 years after the two were split in 2000. The then Ministry of Railways that became the China Railway Corporation in 2013, delineated the two companies' major sales domains with the Yellow River as the boundary. It also tried to set a boundary for the two in overseas markets to reduce competition.
The upcoming merger is expected to avoid "in-fighting" during exploration of the global market.
