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You are here: Home» Renewable Energy » China Energy» China Renewable Energy » Kyoto Protocol » Copenhagen Accord » Sustainability » High Speed Rail » High Speed Rail China » Hybrid Vehicle A New Era Of High Speed Rail
Development
Global warming and
unsustainable rates of consumption of natural resources pose
serious threats to mankind. They pose threats to a country's
economy,
food and
water securities, public health, people's
livelihood and the environment. In a concerted global effort to fight
global warming, high speed rail (HSR) as a more
environmentally-friendly, energy efficient and
sustainable green transportation,
is fast gaining popularity. HSR is poised to be the
next-generation transportation technology
We have now entered an age of
high-speed rail development. Germany, France, Japan
and China have been planning and
building HSR networks for economic growth and fighting
global warming. Definition of high speed
rail varies between countries, as defined by local
constraints and regulations:
HSR industry creates enormous
markets for jobs and for rail equipment of all kinds:
Planning rail networks; designing, producing, and laying miles
and miles of track; manufacturing of rolling stock, signaling
equipments to high-speed equipments, building, installing,
maintaining, and operating equipment; constructing or upgrading
stations, tunnels, and bridges; operating the routes and
managing subsequent follow up activities. The Shanghai-Beijing
link alone is expected to create 2 million jobs.
Environmental analyses and studies comparing building high-speed train system with highways and airports as a solution to meet future traffic volume found that high speed rail system would have the following advantages:
Global Development Progress of High Speed Rails The Shinkansen lines in Japan,
the world's first contemporary HSR network, started with
210 km/h (130 mph) 1964, now it has expanded to 2,500 km
(1,528 mi) linking most major cities on the islands of Honshū and
Kyūshū at speeds up to 300 km/h (186 mph). The
Shinkansen connectivity has managed to link and generate
economic activities in rural towns such as Kakegawa
that would otherwise be too distant from major cities.
The TGV Paris Sud East
Germany's high-speed train, ICE
The Eurostar
Opening in 1994, the Eurostar's main service
connects passengers between London, Paris and
Brussels. The train travels underneath the English
Channel, through the longest undersea tunnel in the
world.
Eurostar has become the dominant operator in cross-channel
intercity passenger travel on the routes that it operates,
carrying more passengers than all airlines combined.
China Leapfrogs in High Speed Rail Development Until only a few years ago, China had no high-speed rail service and certainly lacked the relevant technology know-how. It was due to its swelling manufacturing capacity, that China, in 2004, decided to establish a network of HSR, as its existing infrastructure began to prove inadequate. With the much needed technology transfer from Germany and France via business incentives, today China is able to build its own, and has the world’s most extensive high-speed rail network, with 42 lines expected to be in operation by 2012.
In 2009, China spent $44 billion on HSR development, up from $12 billion in 2004. This is part of China's plan to build a $556 billion high speed rail system linking nearly all its provincial cities by 2015. It equates to a total rail length of 40,000 km, which will become the largest, fastest, and most technologically advanced high-speed railway system in the world. Rail travel works very well in a country with a whooping population of 1.3 billion.
It was reported that air flights between Zhengzhou and Xi'an, two
Chinese provincial capital cities, were suspended on late March
2010,
48 days after a HSR line started operation
between the two destinations. The 505-km railway with an average speed of 350 km per hour,
(fastest average speed in the world) reduces the travel time between the two cities from more than
6
hours to less than 2 hours.
Though the actual air journey takes 70 minutes, the travel from downtowns to the two airports, the check-in time prior flight incur much more time. Additional advantages include convenience, comfort and feeling of relaxation, minus security hassles of an airport
China to build high-speed rail link to Europe China is ambitious to build a vast high-speed train network across the world. Three networks are planned: 1. From Britain to China route with just two days of travel time and built within a decade. The trains are expected to travel at more than 320 km/h. 2. From China, through Russia to Germany, where the network would join the European railway system. 3. Connecting Vietnam, Thailand, Burma and Malaysia, Nations along the three planned HSR routes are being offered attractive financial incentives in exchange for local natural resources: for example, raw materials such as lithium from Burma; gas and oil from Central Asia and coal from Indonesia. China has been winning a string of offshore contracts on HSR projects across the world, spanning across the Middle East, south-east Asia, Latin America, Africa and Australia. Chinese companies are building high-speed lines in Turkey and Venezuela, and are soon to bid for contracts in the US; a $4.8bn contract in Indonesia concludes the latest success bid.
US Takes Its Threshold Stride in HSR While many countries, developed or developing, are vigorously getting set to build their HSR, the U.S. is just about to kick start the industry from scratch. President Obama announced in early 2010 that the Federal Government will award $8 billion in stimulus money through series of state grants, towards building the first intercity network of 13 high-speed rail lines within the country. For a humble start, trains will only be travelling at 176 km/h with potential ability to reach 352 km/h. Together with Obama's additional allotment of $1 billion annually for the next five years, the stimulus can be viewed as a big threshold stride towards achieving the US HSR vision.
References
and related news:
High Speed Train Program Environmental Impact Report: cahighspeedrail.ca.gov You are here: Home» Renewable Energy » China Energy» China Renewable Energy » Kyoto Protocol » Copenhagen Accord » Sustainability » High Speed Rail » High Speed Rail China » Hybrid Vehicle
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