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| China possesses the world's largest high-speed rail network. (Source: Xinhua News Agency) |
According to CNN, at the beginning of the 21st century, China did not yet have high-speed rail.
Slow and inconvenient trains still crisscross this vast country. The low average speed makes routes like Beijing-Shanghai a test of passenger patience.
Today, the situation is completely different: the world's most populous nation boasts the world's largest high-speed rail network.
According to data from the German online statistical website Statista, China currently has the world's largest high-speed rail network, with a total length of 40,000 km.
This railway network spans the entire country, connecting all major city clusters. Construction of the first lines began in 2008. Approximately 20,000 km have been completed in the past five years. It is projected that China's high-speed rail network will expand to 70,000 km by 2035.
High-speed traffic
China is currently the only country in the world with a high-speed rail system capable of speeds up to 350 km/h.
According to Xinhua News Agency, the Beijing-Wuhan section of the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway was recently upgraded from a standard of 310 km/h to a higher standard of 350 km/h.
Since 2017, this is the fifth high-speed railway in China to reach a speed of 350 km/h, after the Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Tianjin, Beijing-Zhangjiakou (Hebei province), and Chengdu-Chongqing high-speed railways.
According to Statista, China also occupies two of the top 10 fastest trains in the world. The top spot goes to the Shanghai magnetic levitation train, reaching speeds of up to 460 km/h. Following closely behind is the Fuxing CR400 train, at 350 km/h.
The Chinese government has invested billions of dollars in the country's high-speed rail system in recent years. "They are trying to bring about change," commented Zhenhua Chen, associate professor of regional and urban planning at Ohio State University.
China has also developed its own shipbuilding company, CRRC. Currently, CRRC is one of the world's largest shipbuilders.
Chinese companies are among the first in the world to introduce new ship technologies such as autonomous (unmanned) vessels, utilizing advanced control and signaling technologies.
The high-speed train connecting Beijing and Zhangjiakou is capable of reaching speeds of 350 km/h, currently the fastest autonomous train in the world. Opened in December 2019 to serve the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou railway line has reduced travel time for the 174km distance from three hours to less than one hour.
Connecting with neighbors
In addition to developing its domestic railway system, China is also boosting investment in railway networks connecting neighboring countries. Recently, China has allocated another 300 million yuan from its budget to support Cambodia's railway development, as well as to promote the construction of a high-speed rail line connecting Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh with Laos, Thailand, and China.
Prior to Cambodia, China had actively cooperated with Laos, most notably on the high-speed railway connecting the Lao capital Vientiane and Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province (China), which opened at the end of 2021.
For the Chinese government, high-speed rail is a powerful tool for connecting society and merging culturally diverse regions. Similar to Japan's Shinkansen system in the 1960s, China expects high-speed rail to become a symbol of national economic strength and a driving force for modernization.
“Building new railway lines is part of Xi Jinping’s broader plan to consolidate the national market, reflecting the Chinese president’s new development philosophy, in which the key model is synchronized development between localities,” said Dr. Olivia Cheung, an expert at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the University of London (UK).
To achieve their current accomplishments, Chinese engineering units have had to overcome a series of enormous challenges, due to the country's vast size and diverse topography, geology, and climate, from the icy Harbin region in the north to the hot and humid climate of the Pearl River Delta, or the 1,776 km long Lanzhou-Urumqi railway line traversing the Gobi Desert.
With many railway lines reaching speeds of up to 350 km/h, intercity travel in China has been completely transformed. The dominant position of the aviation industry has been broken. As of 2020, 75% of Chinese cities have high-speed rail.
Vietnam and China are neighboring countries with shared mountains and rivers, so the development of the Vietnam-China railway is a priority for both governments.
During General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong's visit to China from October 30 to November 1, 2022, the two sides issued a "Vietnam-China Joint Statement on further strengthening and deepening the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between Vietnam and China." The joint statement mentioned that the two sides focused on discussing and agreeing on a plan to connect the railway line between Lao Cai station (Vietnam) and Hekou North station (China).
The connection of the Lao Cai (Vietnam) - Ha Kou (Yunnan, China) railway line has been included in the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport's railway development plan until 2030.
Xinhua News Agency reported on September 9th that the first direct high-speed railway line to the Vietnam-China border began laying tracks on August 8th. This railway line, from Fangcheng Port city to Dongxing city (Guangxi province), will have over 100 km of track and is expected to be operational from December this year.
The Fangcheng Port-Dongxing high-speed railway will reduce travel time between the two cities from 60 minutes to 20 minutes, and connect Dongxing – a border city adjacent to Mong Cai in Vietnam – with China's 42,000km high-speed rail network.
Once operational, this line will end the period without rail transport between Fangcheng Port and Dongxing, and promote connectivity between the two neighboring countries.
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