China's hi-speed railway - Symbol of toil and efficiency of the Chinese people

[Martian2]

The Associated Press: Schwarzenegger checks out China's high-speed rail

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger inspects a China's high-speed train at Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai, China, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010. Schwarzenegger is riding the rails, China's new high speed train lines, engaging in a little window shopping while peddling Californian exports and tourism in the world's second-largest economy. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, center, walks next to a high-speed train Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010, at Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, left, is briefed as he tours China's high-speed train at Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai, China Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger speaks next to a China's high-speed train at Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai, China, Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger attends a meeting with China's Ministry of Railways Vice Minister Lu Chunfang Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010, at Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, left, looks at China's Ministry of Railways Vice Minister Lu Chunfang, right, speaking Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010 at Hongqiao Railway Station in Shanghai. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

"Schwarzenegger checks out China's high-speed rail

By ELAINE KURTENBACH (AP) – 3 days ago

SHANGHAI — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is engaging in a little window-shopping of China's new high-speed train lines while peddling Californian exports and tourism in the world's second-largest economy.

His own state budget $19 billion in the red, Schwarzenegger says he is hoping for some "creative financing" from Asia to help lower costs and get California's proposed high-speed rail lines up and running.

Industry experts say cash-rich China may be best placed to help with funding, and less risk averse than others whose banks are still recovering from the financial crisis. That could prove a key competitive advantage as it goes head-to-head against better established high-speed rivals rail in Asia and Europe.

"That is something very attractive about the Chinese which the Europeans will find very difficult to compete with," said Michael Clausecker, director general of Unife, the Association of the European Rail Industry. "Even in America, finance is a scarce resource. Rail investments need a lot of investment up front."

China has invested huge prestige, and tens of billions of dollars, in its high-speed rail industry — building on mostly European know-how acquired in joint ventures with Siemens AG, Alstom SA and to a lesser extent Japan's "Shinkansen" bullet train operators. It is gearing up to fight for a chunk of what Unife estimates to be a 122 billion euros ($155 billion)-a-year global market for railways.

Schwarzenegger posed for photos Sunday on a high-speed train in Shanghai, after spending Saturday, the first day of his weeklong trade mission of nearly 100 business leaders, hobnobbing in Hangzhou with Jack Ma, founder of Internet trading behemoth Alibaba.com, and other Chinese entrepreneurs.

"Today what I have seen is very, very impressive. We hope China is part of the bidding process, along with other countries around the world, so that we can build high speed rail as inexpensively as possible," he told reporters.

He also announced a plan for Silicon Valley to bid for the 2020 World Expo, which would be California's first time to host the event since 1940.

The governor will also check out high-speed rail in Japan and South Korea — two others among at least seven countries that have officially shown interest in helping develop California's system — assuming the state can find the money.

"There is great potential over there and in Japan and Korea, when it comes to building our high-speed rail and also providing the money for building the high-speed rail," Schwarzenegger told reporters before leaving California.

The fact-finding mission is also aimed at better understanding the technologies on offer.

"He will learn a lot from that," said T.C. Kao, director of the Railway Technology Research Center at National Taiwan University, who has introduced many U.S. delegations to the technology.

"They get the impression, 'We need it.' They feel behind," he said. "You have to experience it to understand."

The U.S. is the world leader in freight railway technology but has almost no high-speed rail expertise. It will have to import the technology for the 13 regional projects that have won $8.5 billion in initial federal funding, with $2.5 billion more to come this year and hundreds of billions needed before lines are up and running.

China already has the world's longest high-speed rail network, about 4,300 miles (6,920 kilometers) of routes, including nearly 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) that can run at top speeds of 220 miles per hour (350 kph). It aims to develop 9,900 miles (16,000 kilometers) of such routes by 2020.

All of that construction involves "highly sophisticated work on infrastructure, on rails and design of track structure," says Chris Barkan, director of the Railroad Engineering Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, who recently toured facilities in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.

A visit to a mammoth manufacturing plant in the eastern city of Qingdao "absolutely blew me away," he says.

Having already build up a huge capacity for manufacturing trains and the systems to serve them, China is looking for a chance to prove it has the wherewithall to export the most advanced technology.

"China now owns the most advanced high-speed rail technology and winning contracts in the U.S. would surely help it to sell more to other countries," said He Xin, an industry analyst at Donghai Securities in Beijing.

Other industry experts say it is difficult to know just how much China has achieved on its own. Both European and Japanese industry officials have expressed skepticism.

But Chinese officials insist the technology they plan to export is truly their own. They also have hired American lawyers to check for potential intellectual property problems, says T.C. Kao, director of the Railway Technology Research Center at National Taiwan University.

"China is probably pretty sure it can pass the test on IP," says Kao, former vice president of Taiwan's high speed rail company. "China has copied, yes, but it has improved on the technology. Many things have been altered."

Kao and other experts say that as newcomers, the Chinese would face logistical and regulatory challenges in entering a brand new market, compared with companies like Siemens, Alstom SA and Canada's Bombadier Inc. which already have train factories in the U.S.

But China's experience in gradually raising the speeds of its train systems and then adding high-speed rail, sometimes on dual-use tracks, may give it an edge in designing systems suitable for the U.S., which in most areas plans a similar incremental approach.

South Korea's KTX high-speed rail, which is based on France's TGV technology, shares the same advantage, said Kim Seok-gi, director of the international railroad division at South Korea's Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs.

South Korea is "absolutely interested" in California's projects and meanwhile is preparing a bid for a high-speed rail project in Brazil linking Rio de Janiero, Sao Paulo and Campinas, he said.

For Japan, which pioneered high-speed rail in 1964, billions in contracts would be a welcome boost to the faltering economy. But its bullet trains, despite their impeccable record for safety and efficiency, run on dedicated tracks.

California and other states will eventually have to adapt whatever systems they choose to local conditions, and step up training of engineers and other personnel needed to build and run those trains by "orders of magnitude," said Barkan from the European rail industry group.

"We're not going to be able to pick up train technology from elsewhere, drop it down in the United States and expect it to work perfectly," he said. "The question is where is the intellectual talent to build all these systems?"

AP Business Writer Kelly Olsen in Seoul and researcher Ji Chen in Shanghai contributed to this report."

 

[Jigs]

U.S. is pretty underdeveloped when it comes to high speed rail tech. In fact Arizona lacks most public transportation period. You are generally required to purchase a car. Few other states are also similar.

 

[trickster]

Can someone tell me why not built maglev trains like the one in shanghai? Aren't China building these transport vehicles so they get people from one place to another place much quicker, because the one in Shanghai is defintely faster.

Also where in the world did China got all these money from to continously build these vehicles one after the other and now they saying to Calfornia we can finance it all?

 

[trickster]

Sorry I accidentally double posted

 

[huzihaidao12]

The United States leading the world in the rail freight technology, but passenger is not good, because the habit of using aircraft.

 

[Martian2]

Can someone tell me why not built maglev trains like the one in shanghai? Aren't China building these transport vehicles so they get people from one place to another place much quicker, because the one in Shanghai is defintely faster.

Also where in the world did China got all these money from to continously build these vehicles one after the other and now they saying to Calfornia we can finance it all?

I'm not an expert on Maglev, but I'll share my view. Maglev costs significantly more to build per mile. Maglev is a niche technology and it lacks economies of scale. In other words, virtually no one in the world is building Maglev on a large scale. Therefore, there is no real infrastructure for Maglev equipment. It is very expensive.

Secondly, the speed gap between China's high-speed-rail (i.e HSR) and Maglev is closing rapidly. China's latest production 380A HSR trains can travel at 380 kph. In comparison, the Shanghai Maglev has a top speed of 431 kph. The difference is only 51 kilometers per hour.

As a country, China is arguably the wealthiest in the world. China has $2.4 trillion dollars of foreign exchange reserves (e.g. gold plus foreign currency). Also, using the analogy of a corporation, China Inc. is very profitable and generates a trade surplus (e.g. more demand for Chinese products) of roughly $200 billion U.S. dollars a year. The counter-argument is that China has a lot of modernizing to accomplish to move from developing to developed world, but that is a different topic.

Anyway, bullet-train HSR is being built in China because it generates economic efficiencies. The ability to transport business-people and workers quickly from one part of the country to another saves billions of man-hours per year. Instead of having people stuck in slow-moving trains, the Chinese people can become more productive and have a higher standard of living by traveling quickly to their destination.

Finally, a dedicated HSR transfers the existing train travelers from the existing train lines and onto the new HSR lines. The existing train tracks become utilized as a dedicated freight line. This improves the efficiency of transporting manufactured goods and commodities throughout the country. No more pesky civilian trains in the way and slowing down freight traffic.

 

[Martian2]

China rolls out its own 380 – Plane Talking

"China rolls out its own 380
June 2, 2010 – 8:25 am, by Ben Sandilands

The first carriage for the first of 100 China 380A trains (Xinhau)

China has revealed the first of its 380A high speed trains at a ceremony at a factory in Changchun.

It will be followed by another 99 sets in coming months for use on the soon to be completed Beijing-Shanghai high speed rail line which opens in 2011.

This report and others show that the name came not from a play on the Airbus A380 moniker but the fact that the trains have a top operational speed of 380 kmh, exceeding by 30 kmh the top speed of the now, second tier 350A trains that were launched into service in 2008.

Good morning Toulouse, from Changchun (Xinhau)

The great circle distance from Beijing Capital airport (PEK) to Shanghai Pudong (PVG) is 1098 kilometres, and while neither jets nor the soon to begin HS rail link will cover as short a distance in the real world, it is obvious that the train between China’s capital and its largest city will be far preferable in space, comfort, data connectivity, convenience and total trip time for many of those who now fly between them.

Meanwhile, in Australia ……..look on in shame. We can’t even get two of the world’s smallest metropolitan railways to work effectively."

 

[Martian2]

Wuhan Station with CRH3C in the foreground and CRH2C in the background

Travellers board a high-speed train which heads to Guangzhou in Wuhan, Hubei province

EV WORLD CURRENTS: Wuhan-Guangzhou Express: HSR on a Truly Grand Scale

"Comparing Long-Distance High-Speed Rail Routes
Line---------------------------- Distance Travel Time Avg Speed
China: Wuhan-Guangzhou.. 968 km... 2h57........ 328 km/h
Spain: Cordoba-Barcelona.. 966 km.... 4h42....... 206 km/h
France: Lille-Marseille......... 959 km.... 4h40....... 206 km/h
Italy: Turin-Naples............. 900 km.... 5h45....... 157 km/h
USA: Boston-Newport News 1034 km 12h35......... 82 km/h

Published: 28-Dec-2009"

The article "China's Fast Track to Development" provides important insights into China's motivation for building a nationwide high-speed rail system. For your convenience, I have itemized the main reasons. (See Will Freeman and Arthur Kroeber: China's Fast Track to Development - WSJ.com)

1) "Moving passenger traffic off clogged conventional rail lines will free up room for an explosion of freight traffic."

2) "Increased freight revenue will pay the capital cost of building the new lines."

3) "By reducing the need for airplanes, cars and trucks to carry passengers and freight, the system will yield big savings in energy intensity and carbon emissions."

"Respected transportation economists Richard Gilbert and Anthony Perl reported that electrified high-speed trains traveling on their own right of way are about 9 times more energy-efficient per passenger mile than private automobiles or domestic jet travel (and hence emit about one-ninth as much pollution as air and auto)." See http://www.midwesthsr.org/docs/2009_07_31_Fact_vs._fiction.pdf

4) "Over the next decade, China's Ministry of Railways expects freight carriage to rise 55%, while passenger-miles will double. More miles of track are not a luxury, but a necessity. In addition to the high-speed lines, the ministry plans to lay another 18,000 kilometers of new conventional freight and passenger track by 2020."

5) "In France, Spain or Japan a mile of high-speed track costs triple a conventional mile. But in China, according to World Bank estimates, the cost premium is as low as 20% to 30%. Cheap labor and locally produced equipment help; so does the decision to build much of the network on viaducts, minimizing land acquisition cost. Finally, building an entire network all at once produces massive economies of scale."

6) "This modest cost premium translates into affordable ticket prices—higher than for conventional rail, but lower than for air travel. The average household income in China's 36 biggest cities is now more than $10,000, so tens of millions of Chinese can easily afford high-speed tickets, especially for business trips."

7) "On several recent trips on the Nanjing-Wuhan, Wuhan-Guangzhou and Guangzhou-Shenzhen lines, we found the trains to be about 90% full. The World Bank reckons that in a few years' time the Beijing-Hong Kong line will carry more than 80 million passengers a year, becoming the world's busiest high-speed passenger rail line."

8) "But the really big gain is that by moving most passenger traffic off existing conventional lines, more space is freed up for cargo. China's businesses—ranging from manufacturers to coal mines—have complained for years about the difficulty of securing space on freight trains, which forces them to move a lot of their cargo on more expensive and less efficient trucks. An increase in rail capacity will enable them to put their freight back on trains, generating huge savings. Ton for ton, freight carried by rail costs nearly 70% less than carriage by truck, uses 77% less energy and produces 91% less carbon dioxide emissions."

9) "For one thing, building the network now, when labor costs are still low, is smarter than waiting a decade or two, when higher wages will push the real cost far higher." In my opinion, China has to build a nationwide high-speed rail network now. I don't think labor construction costs will be affordable in another ten to twenty years. Payment for labor is increasing rapidly in China. By the way, Foxconn (e.g. a Taiwanese company) has 800,000 employees in China.

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100602-715342.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines
"* JUNE 2, 2010, 8:20 P.M. ET
Foxconn: Production Line Workers In China Get 30% Pay Rise"

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5idy8qjbZZyQsRm8xeB81EdS7rOrwD9G4VRE00
"Honda says Chinese labor dispute has been settled

By CARA ANNA (AP) – 9 hours ago

BEIJING — Honda Motor Co. said a labor dispute at a parts plant that crippled the automaker's production in China has been resolved after a wage increase of 24 percent, and the affected assembly plants would be running again Saturday."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/04/business/global/04pay.html?src=busln
"Beijing to Raise Minimum Wage
By REUTERS
Published: June 3, 2010

BEIJING (Reuters) — Beijing will increase the city’s minimum wage by 20 percent, state media reported on Thursday, the latest sign of rising labor costs in the world’s third-largest economy."

 

[Martian2]

China's airlines are feeling the pressure from the high-speed-rail (i.e. HSR) industry. Many airline routes have been terminated when a new HSR line is opened.

"China express train forces airlines to stop flights
BEIJING
Fri Mar 26, 2010 2:06am EDT

March 26 (Reuters) - A new high-speed rail link between two inland Chinese cities has cut travel times so dramatically that all competing air services on the route have been suspended, state media said.

The suspension of flights between the gritty industrial city of Zhengzhou and Xian, home of the Terracotta Warriors, came just 48 days after the express railway began operations, the official Xinhua news agency said on Friday.

The 505 km (314 miles) railway, on which trains run at a top speed of 350 km per hour, has cut the travel time between the two cities from more than six hours to less than two, the report said. By contrast, flying takes just over an hour. Xian's airport is also located at least an hour away by road from downtown.

Before the railway opened, Joy Air, one of the domestic airlines flying the route, managed to sell an average of more than 60 percent of seats for the route, Xinhua said.

Zhengzhou airport confirmed that all flights to and from Xian had now stopped, the report added.

China is spending billions of dollars on a network of high-speed railways, including one from Beijing to the country's financial capital Shanghai, posing a challenge to airlines which had profited from China's vast size and slow roads and trains.

By 2012, China would have more than 13,000 km of high-speed railway, Xinhua said.

"By then, 60 percent of China's domestic air market will be affected by the high-speed railways," Liu Chaoyong, general manager of China Eastern Airlines (600115.SS) (0670.HK), was quoted as saying.

China Eastern last year agreed to sell 35 percent of Joy Air, in which it held 40 percent, to state-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China."

 

[xukxuk]

Can someone tell me why not built maglev trains like the one in shanghai? Aren't China building these transport vehicles so they get people from one place to another place much quicker, because the one in Shanghai is defintely faster.

Also where in the world did China got all these money from to continously build these vehicles one after the other and now they saying to Calfornia we can finance it all?

too expensive to build and to hard to maintain
+ once the train reach certain speed the air friction will be a big problem unless they train run in the vacuum

 

[mike05]

U.S. is pretty underdeveloped when it comes to high speed rail tech. In fact Arizona lacks most public transportation period. You are generally required to purchase a car. Few other states are also similar.

There is a good reason for that, back in the 70's or 80's the major US car companies bought up all the public transport and tore it down so as to force people to buy cars. They also had strong lobbies in the government plus political funds to get the government to build roads, highways etc. Ultimately they are now paying the price for all that greed, capitalism at its finest.

 

[中国万岁-ProsperThroughCo-]

Maglev would have been great yes. But I think Siemens was not willing to license it to China at a desirable price, so China decided to skip it. There were some environmental factors too - some believed that the radiation is dangerous. Meanwhile, China is researching on its own maglev-tech train.

In the future, China might replace the HSR with vactrains. Read more at this thread at skyscrapercity.com China to build trains that go 1000 kph - SkyscraperCity

General news, discussion and photos of CRH @ skyscrapercity.com

 

[Jigs]

There is a good reason for that, back in the 70's or 80's the major US car companies bought up all the public transport and tore it down so as to force people to buy cars. They also had strong lobbies in the government plus political funds to get the government to build roads, highways etc. Ultimately they are now paying the price for all that greed, capitalism at its finest.

Similar to i am guessing the anti-electric car lobby also strong at work here. Good to see China does not operate like this.

 

[greenlion]

Can someone tell me why not built maglev trains like the one in shanghai? Aren't China building these transport vehicles so they get people from one place to another place much quicker, because the one in Shanghai is defintely faster.

Also where in the world did China got all these money from to continously build these vehicles one after the other and now they saying to Calfornia we can finance it all?

When china firstly decided to develope high speed rail, There are three main choices

1.wait for domestic development to reach world standard,
2.import conventional high-speed rail from Europe or Japan,
3.import maglev from Germany.

for the first option, In 2003, China opened Qinshen PDL,with designed speed of 200km/h, known as China's first high-speed line, and several manufacturers' prototypes meant to reach 300 km/h were tested here. they are "China Star" ""Pioneer & laterly "Changbai Mountain" However, the faster operating speed achieved by "Changbai Mountain" is only 180 km/h.

The demonstration of the third option, the Shanghai Maglev was opened in 2004, because of the several problems it brought,such like high price, local protests on a scale bothering even the Party, and a manufacturer wary of technology transfer. the maglev lines is nolonger considers as a choice for a nationalwide HSR network by MOR.

So that china choose the second option, to import HSR trains and technology from Europe and Japan. that is the currently well known CRH Trains. By 2007 the top speed of Qinshen PDL is increased to 250km/h , CRH tranis come into service in this line and 6 other upgrade convientional lines. the Qinshen PDL will be further upgraded to 300 km/h. and become part of the Tianshen PDL (Tianjin-Shenyang) alone with the being built Tianqin PDL (350km/h),

China's conventional high-speed railway network is made up of four components:
(1) upgraded pre-existing rail lines that can accommodate high-speed trains,
(2) a national grid of mostly passenger dedicated HSR lines (PDLs),
(3) other newly-built conventional rail lines, mostly in western China,
(4) "intercity" HSR lines. Newly built high speed linesthat not be included in PDL lines and Western China lines

upgraded rail lines
in April 18, 2007, some 6003 km of track could carry trains at speeds of up to 200 km/h, CRH trains started to service at these pre-existing lines:
Guangzhou - Shenzhen 146 km, CRH1A, Feb 1, 2007 Service speed 160km/h
Beijing-Guangzhou 2324 km, CRH2A,CRH5A first open April 18, 2007
Beijing-Harbin 1338 km, CRH2A, CRH2E,CRH5A first open April 18, 2007
Beijing-Shanghai 1463 km, CRH1B,CRH1E,CRH2A,CRH2E,CRH5A first open April 18, 2007
Shanghai-Kunming 2937 km, CRH1A,CRH1B,CRH2A,ARH2B first open April 18, 2007
Qingdao-Jinan 395.2 km, CRH2A, first open April 18, 2007
Lanzhou-Lianyungang 1759 km, CRH5A, first open April 18, 2007

National High-Speed Rail Grid (4+4 PDL's)

4 North-South lines

Beijing-Harbin (Jingha) PDL
(Beijing-Shenyang-Harbin)
Designed Speed 350km/h length 1700km ,set to open by 2012
includes:
Beijing - Shenyang 676km, set to open by 2012
Harbin - Dalian 904km, set to open by 2011
Panjin - Yingkou 90km, set to open by 2011, Connection line to Qinhuangdao-Shenyang PDL line.

Beijing-Hongkong (Jinggang) PDL
(Beijing-Shijiazhuang-Wuhan-Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hongkong)
Designed Speed 350km/h length 2260km ,set to open by 2015
includes
Beijing-Shijiazhuang 281 km, Set to open by December 31, 2011
Shijiazhuang-Wuhan 838 km,set to open by December 31, 2011
Wuhan-Guangzhou 968 km, opened by December 26, 2009, CRH2C,CRH3C
Guangzhou-Shenzhen 116km, set to open by December 28, 2010
Shenzhen-Hongkong 26km, designed speed 200km/h set to open by 2015

Beijing-Shanghai (Jinghu) PDL
Designed Speed 350km/h length 1318km ,set to open by 2011
includes
Beijing - Shanghai 1318 km, will be open by December 31,2011
Bengbu-Hefei 131 km, set to open by December 31,2011 designed speed 300km/h, Extends line of Jinghu PDL

Southeast Coastal HSR Corridor
(Hangzhou-Ningbo-Taizhou-Wenzhou-Fuzhou-Xiamen-Shenzhen)
Designed Speed 350km/h (Hangzhou-Ningbo) or 250km/h (other lines) length 1600km ,set to open by 2012
includes
Hangzhou-Ningbo 150km, set to open by December 27,2011
Ningbo-Taizhou-Wenzhou 268 km,(250km/h) Opened by September 28,2009 CRH1B,CRH1E ,CRH2A,CRH2B,CRH2E
Wenzhou-Fuzhou 29 8km, (250km/h) opened by September 28,2009 CRH1B,CRH1E,CRH2A,CRH2B,CRH2E
Fuzhou-Xiamen 273 km, (250km/h) opened by April 26,2010 CRH1B,CRH1E,CRH2A,CRH2E
Xiamen-Shenzhen 502km, (250km/h) Set to open by February,2012

4 West-East lines
Qingdao-Taiyuan (Qingtai) PDL
(Qingdao-Jinan-Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan)
Designed Speed 250km/h, length 770km ,set to open by 2012
includs
Qingdao-Jinan 364 km, opened by December 20, 2008 CRH2A
Shijiazhuang - Jinan 319 km, Set to open by 2012
Shijiazhuang-Taiyuan 225 km, Opened by April 1,2009, CRH5A

Xuzhou-Lanzhou (Xulan) PDL
(Xuzhou-Zhengzhou-Xi'an-Baoji-Lanzhou)
Designed Speed 350km/h, length 1363 km ,set to open by 2013
includs
Zhengzhou-Xuzhou 357 km, set to open by 2013
Zhengzhou-Xi'an 455 km, opened by February 6, 2010, CRH2C
Xi'an-Baoji 148 km, set to open by 2012
Baoji-Lanzhou 403 km, set to open by 2013

Shanghai-Wuhan-Chengdu (Huhanrong) HSR Corridor
(Shanghai-Nanjing-Hefei-Wuhan-Yichang-Chongqing-Lichuan-Chongqing)
Designed Speed 350km/h (Shanghai-Nanjing), 250 km/h (Hefei-Wuhan & Hefei-Nanjing), and 200 km/h (other), length 1600 km ,set to open by 2012
includes
Shanghai-Nanjing 301km, Opened by July 1, 2010 CRH1B,CRH2C,CRH3C
Hefei-Nanjing 166 km, Opened by April 19,2008 CRH1B,CRH2A,CRH2B,
Hefei-Wuhan 351km, Opened by April 1, 2009 CRH2A
Hankou-Yichang 293km, set to open by January 1 2012
Yichang-Wanzhou 377 km, set to open by November 30, 2010 at 160km/h
Lichuan-Chongqing 264 km, set to open by 2012
Suining-Chongqing Second line 132 km, set to open by January, 2012
Suining-Chengdu 148 km, (Part of Daning line) Opened by June 30,2010 CRH1A

Shanghai-Kunming (Hukun) PDL
(Shanghai-Hangzhou-Changsha-Kunming)
Designed Speed 350km/h, length 2080 km ,set to open by 2014
includes:
Shanghai-Hangzhou 158 km, set to open by October 1, 2010
Hangzhou - Changsha 933 km, set to open by July, 2013
Changsha - Kunming 1167 km, Set to open by 2014

InterCity HSR lines (Only Listed lines that already exists and planned to open before 2012):
Qinhuangdao-Shenyang PDL, total length 405 km, designed speed 250 km/h, Opened by October 12, 2002 CRH2A, CRH2E,CRH5A
Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Rail, 115 km, 350km/h opened by August 1,2008 CRH1E,CRH2A,CRH2E,CRH3C
Chengdu - Dujiangyan HSR, 65km, 200km/h opened by May 10,2010 CRH1A
Shanghai - Nanjing HSR, 196 km, 350km/h Opened by July 1, 2010, part of Huhanrongline CRH1B,CRH2C,CRH3C
Nanchang-Jiujiang 135 km, 250 km/h Set to open by 2010
Guangzhou-Zhuhai MRT 117 km, 200 km/h set to open by October 28, 2010
Hainan East Ring line 308 km, 250 km/h set to open by 2010
Changchun-Jilin 109 km, 250 km/h, set to open by 2010
Tianjin-Binhai 45km, 350 km/h, set to open by 2011
Tianjin-Qinhuangdao 261 km, 350 km/h Set to open by 2011
Guangzhou-Foshan-Zhaoqing MRT 87km, 200km/h, set to open by March 2011

"Other lines" (Only Listed lines that planned to open before 2012):
Longyan-Xiamen 171 km 200 km/h 2010
Nanchang-Putian 604 km 200 km/h Sepetember 2011
Maoming-Zhanjiang 103 km 200/h December 2011

 

[greenlion]

Secondly, the speed gap between China's high-speed-rail (i.e HSR) and Maglev is closing rapidly. China's latest production 380A HSR trains can travel at 380 kph. In comparison, the Shanghai Maglev has a top speed of 431 kph. The difference is only 51 kilometers per hour.

according to Rumors in Chinese forum, the CRH380A-6001 reaches test speed of 440km/h during it's test run at Jiaoji PDL

Official Name of the 380 series decided!

CRH2-380 Series names as CRH380A, Manufacturer by Sifang Locomotive and Rolling Stock
CRH1-380 Series names as CRH380B, Manufacturer by Bombardier Sifang (Qingdao) Transportation Ltd.
CRH3-380 Series names as CRH380C, Manufacturer by Tangshan Railway Vehicle & Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., Ltd

the MOR of China had ordered 140 CRH380A trains, 80 CRH380B trains and 240 CRH380C trains, firstly 40 CRH380A & 11 CRH380C trains will come into service in Jinghu PDL. these trains are designed for the Beijing-Shanghai PDL and other newcomer 350km/h lines, but rumor says CRH380A will come into service at the Shanghai-Hangzhou PDL which is set to open at October 1, 2010 as it's first Carry Passenger operating, in other hand, the CRH380B, which is a Bombardier design, will come into service at 2012.

at 350km/h level trains, the MOR had offered 60 CRH3C trains,

at 300 km/h level, the MOR had offered 60 CRH2C trains

at 250km/h level, the MOR offered 320 trains in total, 120 CRH1A, CRH1B & CRH1E, 110 CRH2A,CRH2B & CRH2E, 90 CRH5A