World’s longest high-speed rail opens Dec 26

[beijingwalker]

World’s longest high-speed rail opens Dec 26

December 14, 11:24 am

The Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway, which is the world’s longest, is opening on Dec. 26, according to the China Central Television.

With this, a trip between Beijing and Guangzhou, a distance of 2,294 kilometers, will be cut from 20 hours to eight hours.

The Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway will travel through the cities of Shijiazhuang in North China's Hebei Province, Wuhan in Central China's Hubei Province, and Shenzhen in South China's Guangdong Province, the China Daily reported earlier.

The ticket prices for the new line have not yet been released by the Ministry of Railways. But the report said that they will likely cost more than 900 yuan ($144) for a second-class seat, much more than the current prices of 253 yuan for a seat and around 450 yuan for a sleeper ticket.

During the first 11 months of the year, fixed-asset investment in railways, including railway infrastructure investment and train purchases, totaled 506.97 billion yuan ($81.1 billion), reversing 15 months of previous decline, the Ministry of Railways said on Monday.

Total investment in fixed railway assets during the period increased 3.1 percent year-on-year, including 431.9 billion yuan worth of investment in capital construction, up 9 percent compared to the same of stage last year, according to the ministry.

Earlier in October, the ministry increased this year’s investment to 630 billion yuan ($101.73 billion), as part of Beijing’s latest efforts to boost the slowing economy.

This is at least the fourth time this year that the ministry has raised its investment target since the start of July. Premier Wen Jiabao announced, at the time, that promoting investment growth is the key to stabilizing economic expansion that has fallen to its slowest pace in three years.

 

[beijingwalker]

China's vast railway system,high speed system,railway stations
Beijing south railway station and China's railway development - SkyscraperCity

 

[terranMarine]

Don't you just love the image of a train cruising on snowy track? In some parts of EU it's not rare to have delays because of a bit snow or leaves on the tracks.

 

[karan21]

Seeing this I have to say: China has done it.

 

[ajtr]

Seeing is not always believing.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

[karan21]

Seeing is not always believing.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Was that for me

 

[beijingwalker]

Don't you just love the image of a train cruising on snowy track? In some parts of EU it's not rare to have delays because of a bit snow or leaves on the tracks.

China is a vast country,from frozen north to tropical south.

 

[kawaraj]

superh....is it that Chinese high speed rail is longer than the rest of the world combined?

 

[beijingwalker]

China’s high speed rail is best in the world

By Jim Cameron on November 23, 2012 in Jim Cameron's Talking Transportation, Opinion

Last column I spoke of riding Japan’s Shinkansen, the oldest true high-speed rail (HSR) system in the world. This week, the story of the newest and biggest HSR… China.

Much has been written of the tragic accident in July 2011 when two Chinese trains collided killing 40 and injuring almost 200. A recent New Yorker article detailed the incident as an example of shoddy Chinese engineering and political corruption, which it was.

But that incident notwithstanding, in less than a decade China has built the biggest and best HSR network in the world, and it only cost a quarter trillion dollars. I just had to ride it, and did last month.

Our train from Beijing (population 19 million) to Shanghai (23 million) covered the distance of 819 miles in five hours. That’s an average speed of 164 mph. Even Amtrak’s Acela takes 6 hours and 40 minutes to sprint from DC to Boston, a distance of only 448 miles, or an average speed of less than 70 mph.

Acela carries 300 passengers on one train per hour. The Chinese HSR carries 1,050 passengers per train and offers four to six trains an hour.

Acela rides on improved track on a 100-year-old right-of-way with tracks mounted on ties sitting on rock ballast. The Chinese train rides a dedicated right-of-way with tracks affixed to a cement roadbed, like a highway. The smoothness of the ride was amazing.

This single line between Beijing and Shanghai was estimated to cost $32 billion, but it’s anyone’s guess what the real cost was, given the rampant corruption. But to my Western eyes, it’s amazing what a totalitarian regime can do, unencumbered by environmental impact studies and private property rights. This is truly the best HSR in the world.

While in Shanghai I also rode the world’s only commercial maglev train: not steel wheels on tracks, but a magnetic floating train on a guideway. The line is only 19 miles long, running from the airport to the southern edge of the city. But at full speed of 268 mph (which my run did not achieve) the Shanghai Maglev is the world’s fastest train in regular commercial service… faster even than the Chinese HSR.

Oh, it was fast. But it wasn’t smooth. And running only to the edge of the city and not downtown, it is ridden mostly by tourists and rail fans. The few passengers on our mid-day run were all in the second class cars. Why pay for first class on an 8 minute ride?

The builder, Transrapid, pretty much gave away the construction for just $1 billion, to use the Shanghai system as a showcase of the technology. Though a 34-mile extension from the international airport (Pudong) to the domestic airport (Hongqaio) is planned, that’s about all we can expect.

Maglev is interesting, but its incompatibility with existing tracks and the requirement for its own dedicated, unique tracks make the technology unattractive, especially given the advances in conventional railroading.

What can we in the US learn from China’s great leaps forward in railroading? Not much, aside from what is possible technologically. In this country we have neither the will nor the money to ever build such a railroad.

In transportation at least, China is the future. The US is a third world nation.

###

JIM CAMERON has been a commuter out of Darien for 21 years. He is Chairman of the CT Metro-North / Shore Line East Rail Commuter Council, and a member of the Coastal Corridor TIA and the Darien RTM.

 

[eddieInUK]

superh....is it that Chinese high speed rail is longer than the rest of the world combined?

Yes, it is longer, but Europe has a good train system. Its old but working well, not really necessary to build new ones to replace the existing train. US does not have thats why most US people drive or travel by aeroplane. I would strongly support China building this HSR, more energy saving and environment friendly.

 

[beijingwalker]

The Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway

 

[phylumchordata]

Seeing is not always believing.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

what you want to say?