International Railway Journal - August 2007 - (Page 27)

speed Rapid growth C HINA is a vast country with a land territory of 9.6 million square kilometres, but just 77,000km of railways. By comparison, Germany has a land area smaller than China’s Yunnan province and less than a tenth of the population of China, but it boasts 45,000km of railways. MOR claims that China has been using 6% of the world’s operational railways to move 23% of the total people and freight transported by all the world’s railways each year. This looks set to continue as traffic figures continue their upward trend. According to MOR, in the first half of 2007, Chinese railways carried 1.53 billion tonnes of freight, up 10.5% year-on-year. Coal traffic showed the strongest growth increasing 13.3% to 750 million tonnes, while petroleum traffic rose 1.7% to 77 million tonnes. Passenger journeys reached 648 million, an increase of 5.4% over the same period in 2006. been passed for 250km/h operation. In addition, speeds have also been raised on 8000km of the existing network to 160km/h and a further 8000km has been upgraded to allow 120km/h operation. This means that speeds have been increased on 22,000km, or 29%, of the national rail network, and the average speed of a passenger train is now 70km/h - a 46% increase over the 48km/h achieved before China commenced its first national speed-up of services in April 1997 (see graph). Mr Hu Yadong, vice railways minister says that, with this latest timetable, “The average travel time between major cities will be reduced by 20-30%.” He adds that MOR believes the speed upgrades will result in an increase in passenger and freight capacity of 18% and 12% respectively. The successful raising of speeds to more than 200km/h is a highly-regarded achievement in China. MOR officials say the success of the Shanghai to Suzhou service paves the way for further upgrades which will eventually accommodate passenger trains running at 300-350km/h. Improved service The introduction of the new China Railway High-speed (CRH) trains is widely regarded as the highlight of the sixth railway speed-up, offering not only reduced journey times but also more passenger comfort. These trains were introduced earlier this year on three short intercity lines: Guangzhou - Shenzhen, Shanghai Nanjing and Shanghai - Hangzhou. The trains are currently being rolled out in other major cities across the country and will eventually connect the majority of China’s principal economic centres, including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenyang. The new trains have already sliced 2 hours off travel times between Beijing and Shanghai with a journey time of just under 10 hours for the 1463km trip. Journey times on the 1199km Shanghai Changsha (the capital of Hunan province) line have fallen by 90min to 7h 30min, while Shanghai - Nanchang (the capital of Jiangxi province) journey times will be halved. The CRH trains are produced by Sino-foreign joint ventures in China, based on Italian, Japanese, German and Canadian technologies. A major change from China’s traditional fleet of trains is the fact that each vehicle is equipped with three toilets - one for men, one for women and another for people with disabilities and parents with small children. The new trains also have recliner seats, complete with folding tables - a welcome step up into the 21st Century for China’s railways. Each train is formed of eight coaches with a capacity of between 610 to 668 people, depending on the formation of the train. The CRH1 type emus, based IRJ August 2007 27

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of International Railway Journal - August 2007

Contents This month News Market News Transit News News Analysis Voith Goes For Maxima Impact First Gauge-Changeable Loco Under Test Power Surge China Feels the Need For Speed A Firm Foundation For Chinese High-Speed Testing Times on the Betuwe Route Tough Tests For Mass Transit Software A Measure of Success Rendezvous Full Contact List Advertisers Index The Last Word

International Railway Journal - August 2007

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