China High Speed Rail

[R@ptor]

Originally Posted by amor de cosmos

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...l-network.html

No thanks. As someone who travels between Asia and Europe many times each year I can tell you that the 11-15 hour flight is already torture enough. Just how many people would be willing to take a train that will take 4 times longer?

[Smiley Person]

Originally Posted by R@ptor

No thanks. As someone who travels between Asia and Europe many times each year I can tell you that the 11-15 hour flight is already torture enough. Just how many people would be willing to take a train that will take 4 times longer?

I imagine the accommodations on such a train would be much nicer than an airliner. Besides, as with any rail line, the majority of the trips would be shorter ones between intermediate points.

[Gava]

Originally Posted by R@ptor

No thanks. As someone who travels between Asia and Europe many times each year I can tell you that the 11-15 hour flight is already torture enough. Just how many people would be willing to take a train that will take 4 times longer?

The transsiberian is very comfortable and that one takes 9 days...

10-20 years from now, who knows if there still are any airlines operating, the few ones that might remain will anyhow charge you an arm and a leg, and that is if you can get hold of a ticket in the first place.

[nomarandlee]

Originally Posted by Gava

The transsiberian is very comfortable and that one takes 9 days...

10-20 years from now, who knows if there still are any airlines operating, the few ones that might remain will anyhow charge you an arm and a leg, and that is if you can get hold of a ticket in the first place.

Why wouldn't there be? You seem to be grasping at straws there. Ticket prices were much more expensive 30 years ago asdjusted for inflation and people still flew.

This would market would depend on passengers Amtraks coast to coast trains. Mostly train buffs, leisure travelers, retirees, and aerophobes that all have time to spare. A rather small demographic for such a huge investment.

[The North One]

Why dont we have high speed rails?

[Busy Bee]

Fiscally speaking, since we are the world's guardian and defender of democracy and everything that is right and good, about 700 Billion a year helps support that. Otherwise we'd probably be spending it on silly things like education, eliminating poverty and gold plated infrastructure.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by Jaroslaw

In Asia high speed rail is generally elevated. In Japan it seems that only the oldest section, Tokyo-Nagoya-Osaka(?) is not elevated 100%. In Taiwan, the line is entirely off the ground, and includes the longest single elevated section in the world, 200km or something like that. In Korea, also elevated (when not in a tunnel). It's elevated like this mostly to reduce the risk of accidents, I suppose.

And even then, much of it is still elevated. The reasoning being... that the land is still useful underneath.

Some consider it a blight on the landscape... but it's just different compared to swaths of land converted to highways.

[amor de cosmos]

BEIJING, March 26 (Reuters) - A new high-speed rail link between two inland Chinese cities has cut travel times so dramatically that all competing air services on the route have been suspended, state media said.

The suspension of flights between the gritty industrial city of Zhengzhou and Xian, home of the Terracotta Warriors, came just 48 days after the express railway began operations, the official Xinhua news agency said on Friday.

The 505 km (314 miles) railway, on which trains run at a top speed of 350 km per hour, has cut the travel time between the two cities from more than six hours to less than two, the report said. By contrast, flying takes just over an hour. Xian's airport is also located at least an hour away by road from downtown.

Before the railway opened, Joy Air, one of the domestic airlines flying the route, managed to sell an average of more than 60 percent of seats for the route, Xinhua said.

Zhengzhou airport confirmed that all flights to and from Xian had now stopped, the report added.

http://in.reuters.com/article/rbssIn...62P04E20100326

via

[M II A II R II K]

Fuzhou-Xiamen bullet trains roar into services today


26 Apr 2010

Read More: http://www.whatsonxiamen.com/news11796.html

A high-speed rail line linking Fuzhou and Xiamen in east China's Fujian Province went into operation Monday, as part of the Shenzhen-Shanghai high-speed railway. The railway, 275 km in length, is designed for trains traveling at a maximum speed of 250 km per hour. It will reduce the travel time between Fuzhou and Xiamen to around 90 minutes from the current 11 hours.

Three pairs of high speed passenger trains will run between Shanghai and Xiamen during the upcoming Shanghai World Expo to cope with an anticipated increase in passenger numbers. Fujian, on the western side of the Taiwan Strait, is an important destination for Taiwan residents visiting the mainland. However, roads from Fujian to other provinces are often congested.

"The new line, together with another high-speed railway built last year to connect Fuzhou with Zhejiang Province's Wenzhou and Hangzhou, will help tackle the problem," said Zhang Jingui, an official with the railway construction office of Fujian Province.

[mfastx]

That's what I like about China and other Asain countries. They just build it, and nobody seems to bitch and whine about it.

Yes I know that everyone will tell me a million reasons why the US is better, and I'm not saying it's not, but sometimes I just hate "political opposition" and NIMBYS.

[hauchyi]

Originally Posted by mfastx

That's what I like about China and other Asain countries. They just build it, and nobody seems to bitch and whine about it.

Yes I know that everyone will tell me a million reasons why the US is better, and I'm not saying it's not, but sometimes I just hate "political opposition" and NIMBYS.

I am not sure if this frenzy of high-speed railway construction is going to be sustainable. The first one in operation, the Beijing-Tianjin intercity railway, reported a loss of 700 million RMB (about 100m US$) in its first year. It transported 18.7million passengers, only 70% of its projected first-year capacity, according to this website.

Of course we will see how customers will warm up to this new means of transportation, but my personal feeling is China has better alternatives for its public funds, albeit seemingly unlimited at this moment.

[urbanfan89]

It's best to build those megaprojects now, when wages and costs are still dirt cheap.

If China waits until the country is wealthy enough to make those HSR lines profitable, the costs will be several times higher, in which case the state's pockets will not be so deep.

[M II A II R II K]

China Expands Its Investment in Rapid Transit, Paving Way for Future Urban Growth


May 13th, 2010

by Yonah Freemark



Read More: http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2...-urban-growth/

Most of China’s growth is concentrated in its large urban centers, which will house fifty percent of the country’s population by 2020 and 75% by 2050. For these increasingly huge megacities, the central government has no choice but to develop adequate measures to transport the population. Following the American model of car dependence is simply not possible because of high densities and inadequate space. With its high-speed rail network, now the longest in the world, the Chinese are providing efficient intercity links into downtowns.

But it’s in urban rail networks that the country has made the biggest strides towards increasing mobility within cities. Shanghai’s huge Metro, the longest on earth, is just one among eleven currently operating in China. Dozens of other cities have rapid transit systems either under construction or in planning.

Now the central government has made a commitment to spend up to one trillion one hundred billion U.S. dollars by 2015 on such grade-separated urban public transportation corridors. This is part of a one trillion-dollar investment in urban infrastructure nationwide; China will also spend $450 billion on railway construction over the same period. By the end of this year, China will offer a total of 870 miles of metro systems, up from around 600 today, on the way to 1,900 miles in five years. Far more is planned by 2020, especially in the east coast powerhouses of Beijing, Shanghai, and the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong megaplex.

Urban infrastructure investment has consumed an average of 2.6% of China’s GDP since 1994. With a national growth rate predicted to hold at between seven and ten percent a year, the country will be able to guarantee its huge level of investment. Total infrastructure investment across all levels of government accounts for roughly 1% of American GDP. The U.S. commits about $100 billion a year to all forms of transportation spending.

[twoNeurons]

Originally Posted by hauchyi

I am not sure if this frenzy of high-speed railway construction is going to be sustainable. The first one in operation, the Beijing-Tianjin intercity railway, reported a loss of 700 million RMB (about 100m US$) in its first year. It transported 18.7million passengers, only 70% of its projected first-year capacity, according to this website.

Of course we will see how customers will warm up to this new means of transportation, but my personal feeling is China has better alternatives for its public funds, albeit seemingly unlimited at this moment.

China is building for tomorrow, not today. Prices for rail travel in China is priced for the general population. Prices are lower than recovery costs.

MOST people in China couldn't afford it otherwise. I applaud China using its money in this way. They're creating a rail culture... something many here credit Japan for having.

I wonder how much money highways lost last year in revenue? I doubt fare recovery (gas tax) covers 100% of costs there either. And if it does, it has had a long time to develop the car culture big enough to support it.

[MolsonExport]

I can't stop drooling with envy.

[M II A II R II K]

China is pulling ahead in worldwide race for high-speed rail transportation


May 12, 2010

By Keith B. Richburg



Read More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...051104950.html

QINGDAO, CHINA -- Last year, China surpassed the United States as the world's largest automaker. The country is aggressively making jets to compete with Boeing and Airbus. And in recent years, with little outside notice, China made another great leap forward in transportation: It now leads the world in high-speed rail.

High-speed trains were once the preserve of Japan, with its "bullet train," and France, with its TGV. But China's trains are the world's fastest, its network of tracks the longest and its expansion plans the most ambitious. By 2012, just four years after it began its first high-speed passenger service, China will have more high-speed train tracks than the rest of the world combined.

After years of major investment in highways, China is now investing billions in a cutting-edge network of trains and subways designed to boost exports and revolutionize the flow of people and goods in the world's fastest-rising economic powerhouses.

"Just like our investment in the highway system in the 1950s and the rail system in the late 1800s, this will pay huge dividends for China to years to come," said Tim Schweikert, chief executive of GE Transportation China, which signed a deal last year to invest in China's rail expansion in exchange for using Chinese trains and technology to bid on high-speed rail projects in the United States.

The Qingdao factory of China's CSR Sifang is a major producer of high-speed trains in China. (Keith B. Richburg - The Washington Post)

[hammersklavier]

America needs to get off its butt and catch up, we're starting to slide to the point where we can no longer be considered a "developed country", since HSR is the cream of the technological crop. Like perhaps bring our defense spending down to something more in line with other powers (i.e. Britain, France, Russia, or China, we outspend them like 2 to 1 or something) and using that money to build and maintain infrastructure.

[M II A II R II K]

High-speed rail saves time, but ticket prices gives pause


May 20 2010

By Sun Zhe



Read More: http://business.globaltimes.cn/indus...05/533444.html

Li Jing needs to travel back home from Beijing to Tianjin every weekend to be with her family, but the ticket price for the high-speed railway between the two municipalities is too high for her. "It is ok if you take it once a year, but too costly for frequent commuters like me and many others," said Li, an employee with a Beijing-based international trade company. A second-class ticket costs 58 yuan ($8.49) for the 120 kilometer trip, which takes 30 minutes. Ordinary trains between the two cities take around 90 minutes, but only cost about 20 yuan ($2.93).

The high price for tickets on two other newly-built high-speed railways in the country, the Wuhan-Guagnzhou and Zhengzhou-Xi'an lines, has also been criticized. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which set the ticket prices with the Ministry of Railway, has no intention of low-ering the prices or holding a hearing about the issue in the near future, according to a statement the NDRC sent Tuesday to attorney Dong Zhengwei. Dong and three other lawyers from the Beijing-based Zhongyin Law Firm earlier submitted a complaints report about the prices. The average price of traveling by China's high-speed railway is about 0.48 yuan ($0.07) per kilometer, but according to Dong's calculation, the passenger lines can profit even at half that price.

[GREENLION]

by the way, according to this site, Nickname of the CRH Series are

http://baike.sytlw.com/index.php?doc-view-150.html

CRH1 - Cakebread
CRH2 - Hairtail
CRH3 - White Mouse
CRH5 - Little 5




CRH1 Series

derived from Bombardier Regina, Manufacturer by Bombardier Sifang (Qingdao) Transportation Ltd. (BST)

CRH1A: 8 cars per trainset, maximum speed 200km/h,first opend at Feburary 1, 2007, between Guangzhou - Shenzhen, currently 50 trainsets on service

CRH1B: 16 cars per trainset , maximum speed 250km/h,first opend at April 2009, between Shanghai - Nanjing, & South Shanghai - Hangzhou, currently 20 trainsets on service

CRH1E: 16 cars per trainset , maximum speed 250km/h,first opend at November 4 2009, between Beijing - Shanghai, currently 20 trainsets on service
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---





CRH2 Series

derived from E2 Series 1000 Shinkansen, Manufacturer by Sifang Locomotive and Rolling Stock

CRH2A: 8 cars per trainset, maximum speed 250km/h,first opend at January 28, 2007, between Shanghai - Hangzhou, currently 60 trainsets on service

CRH2B: 16 cars per trainset , maximum speed 250km/h,first opend at August 1 2008, between Hefei - Ningbo, currently 10 trainsets on service

CRH2C Stage one: 8 cars per trainset , maximum speed 350km/h,first opend at August 1 2008, between Beijing - Tianjin, currently 30 trainsets on service

CRH2C Stage two: 8 cars per trainset , maximum speed 350km/h,first opend at February 2010, between Zhengzhou - Xi'an, currently 30 trainsets on service, the new series CRH2-380 isderived from CRH2C Stage two

CRH2E: 16 cars per trainset , maximum speed 250km/h,first opend at December 21 2008, between Beijing - Shanghai & Beijing - Hangzhou, currently 20 trainsets on service
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---



CRH3 Series

derived from Siemens Velaro, Manufacturer at Tangshan Railway Vehicle

CRH3C: 8 cars per trainset, maximum speed 350km/h,first opend at August 1, 2008, between Beijing - Tianjin, currently 60 trainsets on service, planed to have 186 trainsets
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---


CRH5 Series

derived from Alstom Pendolino ETR600, Manufacturer by Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd

CRH5A: 8 cars per trainset, maximum speed 250km/h,first opend at July 1, 2008, between Beijing - Tianjin, currently 69 trainsets on service
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---



CRH1-380 Series

Manufacturer by Bombardier Sifang (Qingdao) Transportation Ltd.

CRH1-380A, also named Zefiro 380, formerly known as CRH1C & CRH1D, 8 cars per trainset , maximum speed 380km/h, Will be on service at 2012, planned to manufacture 20 trainsets

CRH1-380B, 16 cars per trainset , maximum speed 380km/h, planned to manufacture 16 trainsets


CRH2-380 Series

Manufacturer by Sifang Locomotive and Rolling Stock

CRH2-380A, Based on CRH2C stage two, 8 cars per trainset , maximum speed 380km/h, the first CRH2-380A will be completed by August 2010, planned to manufacture 60 trainsets

CRH2-380B, 16 cars per trainset , maximum speed 380km/h, planned to manufacture 140 trainsets
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

CRH3-380 Series

Manufacturer byt Tangshan Railway Vehicle & Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd

CRH3-380A, Formerly known as CRH3D, based on CRH3C, 16 cars per trainset , maximum speed 380km/h, the first CRH3-380A completed by May 27 2010, planned to manufacturer 100 trainsets

[GREENLION]

Some of the old high-railway trains, AKA runs as "EXPERSS" at a speed of 180 to 200 km/h between late 1990s' and early 2000s'

CRH6 - NDJ3 - "GREATWALL"
Beijing - Yanqing (Open at 2008), Shijiazhuang - Qinhuangdao (open at 2009).



designed for running at 160 km/h, Top speed 200 km/h.

CBS - Changbai Mountain
Shenyang - Dalian (Open at 2007)



designed for running at 210 km/h, Top speed 250 km/h.

XF - Forward
Chengdu - Chongqing (Open at 2007)


designed for running at 200 km/h, Top speed 292 km/h.

DJJ1 - "Blue Arrow", Guangzhou - Shenzhen (Opens 2001, retire at 2007, now move to Shaoguan - Pingshi)


designed for running at 200 km/h, Top speed 236 km/h.


X2000 - Epoch Speed
opens at Guangzhou - Jiulong line in 1998 at 200km/h, retire in 2007,replaced by CRH1



DDJ1 - Great White Shark
Opens at Guangzhou -Shenzhen line in 1998 at 200 km/h, retire at 2001, replaced by Blue Arrow



DJJ2 - China Star
Runs between Shenyang - Shanhaiguan, opens at 2005 at 270km/h retire at 2007



DJF1 - Zhongyuan Star
Opens at Zhengzhou - Wuchan in 2001 at speed 160km/h, retired at 2007



NZJ1 - New First Light
Opens at Nanjing - Hangzhou & Shanghai -Nanjing in 1999 at speed 180 km/h, retire at 2007, now running ta Harbin - Qiqihar line at a speed of 160 km/h


NZJ2 - Shenzhou
nickname "Great White Cat", opens at Beijing - Tianjin in 2000, retire at 2007, now running between Guilin - Nanjing - Liuzhou & Nanchang - Wuchang, Chibi - huangshi, top speed 180 km/h



NZJ2 - Golden Wheel
first open at Lanzhou - Xining in 2001,top speed 180km/h


DMU - Lushan
opens at Nanchang - Jiujiang in 1998, top speed 160km/h