China to Build Pan Asia-Europe 17 Country Rail Network

[topjumper]

Man, a high speed rail tour from far east through asia to europe would be sooo kool!! But it'll take years + years for it to finish, sigh.... Think I'm born a little early, shouldn't have to wait to see this day at all

 

[Communist]

Man, a high speed rail tour from fast east through asia to europe would be sooo kool!! But it'll take years + years for it to finish, sigh.... Think I'm born a little early, shouldn't have to wait to see this day at all

You will see it. Because I know my nation. If Chinese start a work, the uniqueness is always reflected by the speed.

 

[topjumper]

Ok here is a bit more detail:

China's Railway Calls for High-Speed Diplomacy

From London to Beijing in two days flat: That's China's ambitious high-speed railway plan to connect Asia with Europe.

China is negotiating to extend its own high-speed railway network to up to 17 countries in 10 to 15 years, eventually potentially connecting London with Beijing and then on to Singapore.

Wang Mengshu, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University who has been involved with every major Chinese express-line project, said the new systems would be using China's high-speed railway standard. The trains would be capable of running 215 miles an hour, almost as fast as some airplanes.

Most of the countries already at the negotiating table are in southeast and central Asia. And the talks involve a trade of resources for technology. Many of the countries are under-developed but mineral rich. Myanmar, for example, has agreed to offer its rich lithium reserves in exchange for financial backing on the project.

"Resources from those countries will stream into China to sustain development. I call it high-speed diplomacy" Wang told the South China Morning Post.

China is willing to offer significant financial support to countries already pumping natural gas into the country. Wang noted that Iran, Pakistan and India are in negotiations with China to build the high-speed networks.

China already has the world's fastest bullet train by average speed, which connects Guangzhou, the manufacturing hub of the south, with Wuhan, in the middle of China. It covers 664 miles in about three hours, comparable to the distance from Boston to southern Virginia. That is less time than Amtrak's fastest train takes to go from New York to Boston.

President Obama warned earlier this year that the United States is lagging behind Asia and Europe in terms of building high-speed train networks. "Other countries aren't waiting," Obama said. "They want those jobs. China wants those jobs ... They are going after them hard, making the investments required."

Many Challenges to Overcome

Wang said China has proposed three high-speed railway projects, although the specific routing has yet to be decided. The first would potentially connect Kunming, China, with Singapore via Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia. Another could start in Urumqi and go through Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, and possibly extend to Germany. The third would start in China's northeast and go north through Russia and then into Western Europe.

There are some technical challenges to overcome. While Vietnam has agreed to change its rail gauge standard to match China's, other countries are still negotiating. Kyrgyzstan, for one, runs on a narrower gauge than mainland China.

The key issue is money. China is already spending hundreds of billions of dollars on domestic railway expansion and is planning to fork out much more to go regional. Wang said he expects the new networks to raise money from host countries and the private sector but "[China] prefers the other countries to pay in natural resources rather than their own capital investment."

The successful completion of such a project would not only connect China with the rest of the continent and provide the world's largest country much-needed natural resources, but would help develop China's far west.

"We foresee that in the coming decades, hundreds of millions of people will migrate to the western regions, where land is empty and resources untapped," Wang told the South China Morning Post. "With the fast, convenient transport of high-speed trains, people will set up mines, factories and business centers in the west. They will trade with Central Asian and Eastern European countries."

Source: abc news

 

[Omar1984]

China should bring back the old silk road alive, but this time through a rail network:





Also China should be connected to Pakistan-Iran-Turkey ECO rail network, from Turkey China can easily reach rest of Europe and ultimately the ECO rail network will be connected to all ECO member states which includes Central Asian countries so China will be connected to Central Asia and Europe through the ECO rail network.



Map of ECO Member States

 

[Super Falcon]

hahahahhahahasha woooowwwww china rules man 130 billion dollars of train projest and im sure india is not in those 17 countries

 

[no_name]

Now if high speed rail were to connect to iran throught the stans, will any saction still work in all but names?

regards

 

[Sanchez]

"The plans include Southeast Asia, with a network to run south from Kunming through Vietnam, Thailand, and Malaysia on the way to Singapore and west across to Myanmar and India."

well it seems that the original plan does mention India...ungrateful or not...we are a destination...and we rock at that...!

Well, well! When China and Nepal were discussing railway links some Indians got nervous. Indian media reports were hypothesizing China would take advantages of the railroads to move troops quickly to India in case of a war. Do you really believe that India isn't scared of these high speed railway projects?

 

[Communist]

Now if high speed rail were to connect to iran throught the stans, will any saction still work in all but names?

regards

I don't think China will support sanctions. Even if sanctions are given without China's consent, Iran will have no difficulties, because China will indecently carry out trades with Iran.

You are also a Chinese.

 

[below_freezing]

Now if high speed rail were to connect to iran throught the stans, will any saction still work in all but names?

regards

haha very nice. Eurasia linked together while the Americas are still sitting on the sidelines. If this can happen it would undoubtedly make any nation connected to the rail line much more powerful relative to nations not connected.

Also nice to see us demand payment in natural resources. We have too little of those and too much useless paper.

 

[topjumper]

China should bring back the old silk road alive, but this time through a rail network:

Agreed! Bring back the silk road, too long has Asia been sleeping while the rest of the world moved on, and now middle east has been war-torn, it's about time to wake up and bring the prosperity back to Asia.

My only concern is many of these en-route countries are not very strong to defend themselves, hope these railways and new developments won't be subject to sabotage through some terrorist campaigns or plain fully fledged invasions like what we are seeing in Iraq and Afghanistan, that would be really messed up. It's a bit like the three georges dam in china -- a strategic development project that took over a decade to build, the largest power generation plant in the whole world and it's been identified by the NATO as a strategic bombing target in case of an escalated conflict with China. I suppose the good thing is if these railroads are at risk the whole asia would be united to protect it.

 

[no_name]

I don't think China will support sanctions. Even if sanctions are given without China's consent, Iran will have no difficulties, because China will indecently carry out trades with Iran.

You are also a Chinese.

I don't think they will too, hence the post.

I think you are chinese too

 

[Hammy007]

in order to improve the economic conditions of asia and to bring more money and to make it attractive for future tourism, rail networks between countries should be improved. the ECO railway link from turkey which connects europe to iran and pakistan is imperative a positive sign for a larger good. similarly this project can be a continuity from pakistan to china and to india and far east. hope for the best cheers.

 

[no_name]

Will the railroad more for trade or for passenger movement.
Will the average people find highspeed rail affordable?
But I think it's another way to travel relatively cheaply if you want to visit china for tourism/business etc.
Are we going to develop Xian? Will this pull western china up faster?
So many questions.

 

[Communist]

Will the railroad more for trade or for passenger movement.
Will the average people find highspeed rail affordable?
But I think it's another way to travel relatively cheaply if you want to visit china for tourism/business etc.
Are we going to develop Xian? Will this pull western china up faster?
So many questions.

I think the railroad will serve both purposes.

The average people will surely find the rail affordable, since the rail connection is not for luxury, but for mobility of the masses.

Well, Xian will become developed through silk road projects and China has launched a great tree plantation project to turn the desert into a green land. People's participation is needed, hope the Xian people co-operate with the govt.

The middle kingdom relied on the silk road and this time China has to rely again on it, because with the economic recession, the trade across the pacific has become very tough.

 

[Sanchez]

?????????????_????_???

"中国在谈判中承诺提供高铁技术、设备及最高时速达350公里的中国高速列车，并且承担那些愿意向中国运输天然气或锂等自然资源的国家建设高铁的费用。”

It says that China promises to offer tech, euqipments and Chinese high speed trains of max 350km/hr. China will pay the construction cost of railways for the countries that are willing to pipe natural gas or supply lithium or other natural products to China.

Poor quality iron ore is excluded from the offer, I believe.