RIDING THE HIGH-SPEED RAILS

By LAN XINZHEN

RIDING THE HIGH-SPEED RAILS

By LAN XINZHEN

Travel between Wuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province, and Guangzhou,capital of Guangdong Province in south China, used to take 10 hours. But now, the 1,000-km journey can be made in three hours. When factoring in time spent getting to the airport and then waiting to board the aircraft, travel time between the two cities by air or rail is roughly the same. But the cost effectiveness of train travel trumps air transportation, luring a considerable number of people to stay grounded when traveling.

Trains have become the preferred transportation method of many travelers who used to travel by air, as high-speed railways cut both time and costs.

The reduction in travel time comes from the debut of the Wuhan-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway which started operating on December 26, 2009, and has since become a major transportation artery from the heart of China to the southeast coastal areas. During the recent three-day May Day holiday,the high-speed railway transported nearly 270,000 passengers, a record high in train transportation between the two cities.

The Wuhan-Guangzhou corridor is also the longest high-speed railway in China—1,069 km in length. Other high-speed railways now in operation in the country include those from Beijing to Tianjin, Beijing to Taiyuan in Shanxi Province, Zhengzhou in Henan Province to Xi’an in Shaanxi Province and Hefei in Anhui Province to Shanghai.

Figures from the Ministry of Railways(MOR) show the total length of high-speed railways currently in operation has reached 6,552 km, the longest in the world.

In spite of the quick construction,more high-speed rails will be needed to cater to China’s ever-increasing passenger demand. MOR figures state China plans to construct an additional 13,000 km of high-speed railways by 2012, bringing the high-speed railway network to just shy of 20,000 km.

Also by 2012, the majority of Chinese cities will be connected in the network as the nation enters an era of popularized highspeed railway demand.

Years in the making

Development of China’s high-speed rail network began in 2004, but the vision of the nation linked by fast trains is decades old. He Huawu, a 55-year-old MOR chief engineer, has witnessed that vision take shape and speed off over the course of his career.

In 1992, He went to Europe for a field study of European railway development with an MOR delegation. During the trip, He took the Channel Tunnel, or the Eurotunnel, connecting Britain and France, the fi rst time he had been on a high-speed railway running at 273 km per hour. At that time in China, trains could only travel at a maximum of 120 km per hour.

He was amazed by the European talent in developing such fast transportation and wondered when China would catch up. China needed fast trains, but He had no idea of when or how long it would take to build high-speed railroads in his home country.

In the early 1990s, China’s railway capacity could only meet half of the cargo transportation demand, which greatly restrained economic development. For years,China mulled the possibility of building a high-speed rail network, but protest wasraised because of technology and capital constraints. The high-speed rail decision was slowed until 2004 when the Central Government determined China needed high-speed railways and pushed for railway technology innovation. The Central Government also ordered the construction of the fi rst high-speed railway between Beijing and Tianjin and said it must be put into operation within fi ve years.

High-Speed Travel Time From Beijing

That year, He was appointed as chief engineer of MOR, taking charge of the design and construction of Chinese highspeed railways.

The first day in August 2008 marked the beginning of the high-speed rail era in China, as the Beijing-Tianjin Railway became operational one year earlier than scheduled. Soon thereafter, high-speed links sprouted up one after another across the country.

At present, more than 10,000 km highspeed railways are under construction,connecting economically developed cities in eastern and central parts of the country.

In April 2007, China increased the speed of trains by applying high technology, after which 2,876 trains could reach a maximum speed of 200-250 km per hour,the highest speed possible on existing railroads.

According to information provided by the MOR, high-speed railways are running smoothly with stable and reliable railroads,telecommunication signals, traction and power supply. MOR data show 773 high-speed trains travel across the country each day with a daily passenger transportation capacity of 845,000.

The expanding network of high-speed railways has made travel more convenient,improved people’s lives and relieved the pressure of insuf fi cient capacity.

Train cars with passengers packed in like canned sardines were widespread in the years before high-speed railways. But now, that common occurrence is becoming a fleeting memory of a slower past.

The Central Government has also adopted favorable policies to encourage railway development in terms of approval procedures, financing, land appraisal, environmental impact assessment, and research and development.

Local governments have accordingly provided for the construction of high-speed railways, as they see such development as a strategic measure to boost local economic growth.

Across the nation

By 2020, according to MOR figures,China’s high-speed railway network will extend over 50,000 km, connecting all provincial capitals and cities with populations exceeding 500,000 and providing 90 percent of the country’s total population with access to rails. By that time, “China will build up a comprehensive railway network which will meet the demand of national economic and social development, and the passengers and cargoes will be able to be transported freely and conveniently without obstruction,” said the MOR.

China laid out the blueprint for its high-speed railways in 2004 when the State Council, the cabinet, passed the Medium- and Long-term Railway Network Plan. According to the plan,the high-speed railway development will include four “north-south” lines and four“east-west” lines.

The four “north-south” lines refer to railways that connect cities in northern and southern parts of China, including the 1,318-km Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway to connect the Bohai Sea Rim and the prosperous east coastal Yangtze River Delta regions, the 2,350-km Beijing-Wuhan-Guangzhou-Shenzhen (Hong Kong) High-Speed Railway to connect north, central and south China, the 1,612-km Beijing-Shenyang-Harbin (Dalian)High-Speed Railway to connect the northeastern and inner-Shanhaiguan Pass areas,and the 1,650-km Shanghai-Hangzhou-Ningbo-Fuzhou-Shenzhen High-Speed Railway to connect the Yangtze River Delta, southeast coastal areas and the Pearl River Delta.

The four “east-west” lines refer to highspeed railways running between eastern and western parts of China, including the 906-km Qingdao-Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan line to connect the country’s northern and eastern parts, the 1,346-km Xuzhou-Zhengzhou-Lanzhou Railway to connect the northwestern and eastern regions, the 1,922-km Shanghai-Nanjing-Wuhan-Chongqing-Chengdu line to connect the southwestern and southeastern regions,and the 2,264-km Shanghai-Hangzhou-Nanchang-Changsha-Kunming railway to connect the central, eastern and southwestern regions.

The completion of the eight high-speed railways will connect China’s major population hubs, making it possible for people to travel across the country with ease.

China also plans to develop intercity high-speed railways covering economically developed and densely populated cities and towns, such as the Bobai Sea Rim, Yangtze River Delta,Chongqing and Chengdu areas and the west bank of the Taiwan Straits. Those inter-city rails will link relatively smaller cities and towns to the eight major high-speed railways.

The MOR plan shows the ultimate goal of China’s high-speed railways is to form a one- to two-hour transportation network between neighboring provincial capital cities, and half- and one-hour transportation networks between provincial capital cities and other cities in the province.

After the completion of these major railway lines, it will take no more than eight hours to travel from Beijing to the majority of provincial capitals.