Super fast Chinese trains

R Jinith de Silva Former Secretary Sri Lanka – China Society

Chinese are a nation famous for their ingenuity. They have innovated many things long before the Europeans. The object of this article is to observe how the Chinese Railways reached the apex in train travel much faster than the rest of the world.

The first train was run in China in 1876. It has a history of about 135 years. Fifteen years ago the Chinese Railway system was in a very primitive state and the average speed was about 50 Kilo Meters (Kms).

With the economic reforms that took place in 1978 China decided to modernize its railways system embracing the entire country. Railway was used mostly for passenger and goods transport, and 85 percent of oil transport and 80 percent of iron and steel transport was done by railway.

The Chinese authorities first concentrated in increasing the speed of the trains.

Experiments were conducted to achieve this using foreign and local technical knowledge. The state provided the necessary patronage specially to Southern and Northern Railway companies which were subsidiaries of the state.

They performed the necessary initial research for the manufacture of high speed trains.

By 1997 China managed to increase the speed of trains up to 100 Kms per hour. In reality a high speed train was manufactured in 2004. China was able to manufacture trains reaching speeds of 300 - 350 Kms per hour by 2007. Today there are trains that reach speeds over 400 Kms per hour that ply across cities. On December 03, 2010 a train belonging to Southern Company created world history by exceeding 481 Kms per hour. Presently there are 10 train lines in China that use high speed trains. The Beijing - Tianjin high speed line that was opened to co-incide with 2008 Olympics is quite popular today. This train line which is 120 Kms in length took 1½ hours to complete the journey.

Now it takes only 30 minutes to complete. This was the first intercity service to exceed 300 Kms per hour in China.

The Shanghai - Hangzhou high speed railway line was opened on 26.10.2010 has been able to reduce the travelling time from 78 minutes to 40 with a average speed of 380 Kms per hour. Chinese Government has spent 156 million Yuan (US$ 23.3 million) to complete it. The cost of a ticket for the entire journey is 95 Yuan. This railway line has contributed much to the economic development of Eastern China. The Beijing - Shanghai railway line due to start by the end of this year will turn a new leaf in the history of Chinese railways. The total distance of this line is 1318 Kms and the Chinese Government is expected to spend 221 Billion Yuan to construct it.

The average speed of the trains that ply on this line will be between 350-380 and it will be able to reduce the present travelling time to 5 hours from 11. Presently there are about 400 high speed trains in China and the number will be increased to 2000 by 2015, and to 2,700 by 2020.

The present total high speed rail track distance of 6552 Kms will be increased to 13,000 by 2012. China intends to cover all its major provinces which will serve 90 percent of its population when this programme is completed.

It is important to state here of 3 special railway transport projects commissioned by the Chinese Government spending a huge amount of money.

1) Maglow line
2) Beijing - Tibet Line
3) Yichang - Wanuchou line.

Maglow line

Maglow line was extended from Loyang to Shanghai international airport covering distance of 30 Kms. This project was constructed in collaboration with Siemens of Germany costing the Chinese Government a sum of Yuan 10.03 Billion (US$ 146.4 million) This service is eco-friendly and quite popular among tourists.

The train service from Beijing to Tibet commenced in 2006. This was considered a historical event because the roof of the world was connected to the world through a train service and with this every province of China became interconnected. The train line that existed from Beijing to Golmud was extended to Lhasa by this project.

The distance of this line was 1142 Kms and the amount spent was US$ 4.2 Billion. Tis line climbs up to 5072 meters above sea level, and enters Lhasa through the Tangula pass. This is considered a marvel of Chinas engineering. As a result of this Tibetan goods reach every corner of China.

Yichang - Wanuchou Line

This was commissioned in 2011. This line connects the city of Yiching in Huhai province with Wannghou of Chongging province.

The entire distance of 337 Kms is covered within 5 hours,a journey that took 22 hours.

When covering the entire distance a train should pass through 253 bridges and 159 tunnels. It has taken 6 years to dig the tunnel of Qungee mountain.

The Chinese Government has spent a sum of 22.57 billion yuan to complete it.

Per Kilometer cost of this project was 60 million Yuan and whereas the cost of the Tibetan line was only 29 million Yuan, per Kilo meter.

Shugiyang Tunnel Railway line

I should write something about the tunnel that was dug across the underneath the bottom of the Pearl river which was completed last month. This 11 Kilometer tunnel known as Shugiyang connects Guangzhou in Southern China with Hong Kong.

The traveling time has been reduced from 2 hours to 40 minutes and soon it will be linked to the Beijing-Hong Kong high speed system.

The Chinese nation have been able to gather multiple advantages due to this advanced high speed railway system. They have been able to travel comfortably in double quick time.

World famous Tibetan beer now reaches every part of China at no extra cost.

Now of the city of Tianjing has almost become a part of Beijing. Residents of Tianjing could leave there city to go to Beijing for work and return home on the same evening.

People now do not go for condominiums in Beijing paying high rents but prefer to travel from distance like Tianjing where rents are fairly cheap.

Export market

The Chinese railways have been able to draw the attention of many nations who are keen on improving there Railway Systems.

President Barak Obama watching the Chinese high speed trains told the Americans that they should learn from the Chinese.

The Chinese Railway industry is so advanced today they have managed to edge the leading train manufacturers such as Bombadier of Canada. Alsthom of France, Siemens of Germany, Kawasaki and Hitachi of Japan. China provides rolling stock and other accessories to more than 50 countries.

Today the main supplier of rolling stock to Sri Lanka Government Railway is China.

Christina Ferdinum the President of Argentina who visited China in July 2010 signed a trade agreement with China to obtain rolling stock and technical knowledge worth US$ 10 billion.

Venezuala and Turkey too have signed agreements to purchase Chinese rolling stock and other accessories.

Russia USA and Poland too have expressed three desire of purchasing Chinese rolling stock and accessories.

Thailand and Laos too have signed such agreements. Two main train manufacturers of China are bidding with worlds’ leading other manufacturers to supply rolling stock for the American high speed project worth US$ 53 billion.

When President Obama visited China last year the General Electric (GE) of America and the China Southern railways signed an agreement worth US$ 1.4 billion.

Accordingly this deal would provide employment opportunities to more than 2000 Americans.

Therefore through its railway services China has performed a tremendous service to its people.

They have not only been able to draw the attention of the world to its advancements but hope become the country with the most advanced train net work in the world by 2015.