World's longest high-speed rail line begins service in China

[tualingong]

[h=2]World's longest high-speed rail line begins service in China[/h] by Chris Welch

At 9AM local time Wednesday, China officially launched service on the world's largest high-speed rail line, which covers a distance of approximately 1,428 miles between Beijing and Guangzhou. Older rail lines required more than 20 hours to make that trek, but high-speed cars travel at a consistent speed of 186 miles per hour, reaching China's southern economic hub in only eight hours. As the New York Times reports, China has invested heavily in its high-speed railway infrastructure (now spanning 5,800 miles) in recent years, with the project often helping to prop up the country's economy. Each line demands significant human resources, with up to 100,000 workers brought on to help operations.
Yet as US cities continue to plot out high-speed rail solutions, the breakneck pace at which China has developed its own system has also raised concerns, particularly after a 2011 collision left 40 people dead. Still, the trains ultimately prove safer than China's roadways, which see over 70,000 reported fatalities per year — experts believe the actual number of traffic-related deaths is substantially higher. That's double the total in the United States, which has four times as many vehicles on the road. It would seem congestion is a more pressing concern than safety: despite room for over 800 passengers, existing high-speed rail cars are routinely filled to capacity.

 

[Bollocks]

Bollocks. We can just dismiss it as counterfeits. Afterall they are already famous for that.

 

[The_Hypocrite]

Well if it works it will make improve the economy of china etc,,,if it crashes,,they can always fix it and build more,,but weather the corruption remains, or cost cutting taking short cuts etc is still there,,,that is anyone's guess...

 

[ionzu]

Bollocks. We can just dismiss it as counterfeits. Afterall they are already famous for that.

at least they built it, look at india, they'll never pull their shit together to build a project of this magnitude.

 

[Bigfuck]

at least they built it, look at india, they'll never pull their shit together to build a project of this magnitude.

True. But it will also mean you will not fuck yourself at this magnitude. Even for both strategies.

 

[red amoeba]

whilst its laudable that they have the ambition to improve the infrastructure, equally important is to ensure the quality of safety. i think its part of mega plan to ultimately link HK to Beijing to complete 9/ 10 hours journey - cutting the reliance on airlines.

Another grip they have, the fares are too expensive and there is danger of rendering it an white speedy elephant. Given Beijing style of throwing money & subsidizing unprofitable enterprises forever, they can well afford to lower fares abit. Now, SMRT should abit from them...

i think it will be feasible / fathomable that Singapore can be one day linked by this rail line passing via KL, BKK to Beijing...in like what - 3 days if whole stretch high speed...

 

[laksaboy]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/27/b...high-speed-rail-line-opens-in-china.html?_r=0

Worries about the high-speed network peaked in July 2011, when one high-speed train plowed into the back of another near Wenzhou in southeastern China, killing 40 people.

A subsequent investigation blamed flawed signaling equipment for the crash. China had been operating high-speed trains at 350 kilometers an hour (about 218 m.ph.), and it cut the top speed to the current rate in response to that crash.

The crash crystallized worries about the haste with which China has built its high-speed rail system. The first line, from Beijing to Tianjin, opened a week before the 2008 Olympics; a little more than four years later, the country now has 9,349 kilometers, or 5,809 miles, of high-speed lines.

Good luck to those who take that train.

I don't expect the Tiongs to be half as meticulous or attentive to details as the Japs.
This is a shinkansen-wannabe.

 

[lorrydriver]

just wondering.....if bonking at high speed in an aircraft gets you into the mile high club, what about bonking on a high speed train?

 

[Cuberos]

when will it crash huh?

 

[Magic]

just wondering.....if bonking at high speed in an aircraft gets you into the mile high club, what about bonking on a high speed train?

Mile Rail Club

 

[Froggy]

This the pride of all PRC Chinese good for them.

 

[General]

they can have whatever they want, but nothing changes their attitude and mentality towards humanity . China, homeland of world’s most useless drivers and world’s most uncaring people. Also homeland of pigs who, if they want to continue behaving like pigs, should stay in their homeland instead of invading other countries and soaking them up with their inbred piggism.

 

[blackmondy]

at least they built it, look at india, they'll never pull their shit together to build a project of this magnitude.

Not true. They pull their shit together and end up with the Ganges river, literally.

 

[Renault]

approximately 1,428 miles between Beijing and Guangzhou. Older rail lines required more than 20 hours to make that trek, but high-speed cars travel at a consistent speed of 186 miles per hour, reaching China's southern economic hub in only eight hours.

The people from the north keep coming to Guangzhou. People there must be unhappy with so many FTs.

 

[Sir_Fcuk]

Not true. They pull their shit together and end up with the Ganges river, literally.

At the border with China, one indian minister remarked that they deliberately do not build infrastructure so that if China attacks, the lack of roads will hinder the red army..... while on the china side, there is high speed rail and can mobilise thousand of troops before the chicken masala is cooked

 

[Trishaw]

at least they built it, look at india, they'll never pull their shit together to build a project of this magnitude.

No, I think they should fix the river first just like PAP did to our stinky 'river' decades ago.