TaiShang
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New high-speed railway to link Beijing and Moscow
On October 17, 2014
During Chinese premier Li Keqiang’s visit to Russia this week, both sides signed a contract to begin work on a high-speed train that will link Moscow with China’s capital, Beijing.
If China finally confirms the project, the 7,000-kilometer railway is estimated to cost over $230 billion. The train will reduce the travel time between the two cities to two days by taking shorter-cuts through Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, instead of Mongolia as the original track heads.
Currently flights between Beijing and Moscow generally take nine hours, and the only train service between Beijing and Moscow runs only twice a week, with the return trip lasting more than 13 days.
The high-speed railway opens up more transportation options, not only for passengers but also for cargo. The new railway, once implemented, should create more trade opportunities between China and its neighboring countries.
According to Wang Mengshu, a railway expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the biggest challenge facing the project is the severely low temperatures in some of the areas the train will pass through, reported the Beijing Times.
However, as has been proven in China’s Dalian-Harbin railroad, China has the experience and capability to construct in alpine regions, as the railways and trains it builds can adapt to temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius.
***
The likely advantages of an HSR between Beijing and Moscow:
1. Can stop at multiple stations, which enables more people to people movement.
2. Local business relationship improves along the line (and beyond).
3. Xinjiang, with greater economic development, further normalizes.
4. Strategic relationship deepens further.
5. A great selling point for China's HSR industry.
6. Reinforces China's image as a "can-do" nation (Wrongly attributed to the US because of the information pollution created by numerous Chuck Norris movies -- especially by Delta Force series. LOL).
On October 17, 2014
During Chinese premier Li Keqiang’s visit to Russia this week, both sides signed a contract to begin work on a high-speed train that will link Moscow with China’s capital, Beijing.
If China finally confirms the project, the 7,000-kilometer railway is estimated to cost over $230 billion. The train will reduce the travel time between the two cities to two days by taking shorter-cuts through Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, instead of Mongolia as the original track heads.
Currently flights between Beijing and Moscow generally take nine hours, and the only train service between Beijing and Moscow runs only twice a week, with the return trip lasting more than 13 days.
The high-speed railway opens up more transportation options, not only for passengers but also for cargo. The new railway, once implemented, should create more trade opportunities between China and its neighboring countries.
According to Wang Mengshu, a railway expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the biggest challenge facing the project is the severely low temperatures in some of the areas the train will pass through, reported the Beijing Times.
However, as has been proven in China’s Dalian-Harbin railroad, China has the experience and capability to construct in alpine regions, as the railways and trains it builds can adapt to temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius.
***
The likely advantages of an HSR between Beijing and Moscow:
1. Can stop at multiple stations, which enables more people to people movement.
2. Local business relationship improves along the line (and beyond).
3. Xinjiang, with greater economic development, further normalizes.
4. Strategic relationship deepens further.
5. A great selling point for China's HSR industry.
6. Reinforces China's image as a "can-do" nation (Wrongly attributed to the US because of the information pollution created by numerous Chuck Norris movies -- especially by Delta Force series. LOL).
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