How the world builds high-speed railways - Part 8: The 'secret' to developing China's high-speed railways

On August 1, 2008, the first high-speed railway line from Beijing to Tianjin, 117km long, officially opened to traffic. Passenger trains are allowed to run at 350km/h on a 1,435m gauge.

High-speed railway on Quanzhou Bay Sea Bridge - Photo: CHINA STATE RAILWAY GROUP CO., LTD

When telling the story of China’s journey of developing high-speed railways in such a short time that it has achieved such great results that it has astonished the world, the people of this country often start with a vivid story: In October 1978, Mr. Deng Xiaoping visited Japan. Despite his busy and complicated political schedule, he still took the time to ride the Japanese Shinkansen high-speed train and did not hide his admiration for the speed of the train.

Slow start

In the book China Speed ​​- The Development of High-Speed ​​Rail , researcher Wang Xiong recounted this story: Leader Deng Xiaoping said this was the first time he experienced this Japanese means of transport.

"It runs very fast, runs as fast as the wind. It feels like it urges us to run" - Mr. Deng Xiaoping did not hesitate to say good things about the early successful development of Japan's high-speed railway, while in 1978, China's traditional railway was still very slow with an average speed of less than 80km/h.

Following the milestone of Deng Xiaoping's visit to Japan, the second milestone in China's high-speed rail development history followed just two months later when the country held a plenary session of the 11th Party Central Committee. Among the economic development discussions, the issue of building high-speed rail for China was brought up for discussion.

Of course, as with any new initiative in any country, there are supporters and opponents. Supporters say the high-speed rail system will help boost China's economy.

Meanwhile, the opposition group said that investing in this modern means of transport is too costly in a situation where China needs to focus its financial resources on developing its industries.

This counter-argument is also the main content that anti-high-speed rail groups around the world argue, even in Japan, there are many opinions that it is too costly and ineffective when the country first started building the Shinkansen high-speed train system in the 1960s.

Then, China spent a long time on research. By 1990, a report proposing the construction of high-speed railways was submitted to the Chinese government in the reality that this populous country's economy had begun to enter a period of rapid development, at the same time the situation of heavy overload on old railways and roads.

In 1995, Prime Minister Li Peng affirmed that the construction of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway would be implemented in the 9th Five-Year Plan (1996-2000).

However, the project could not come true until the first decade of the 21st century - a time when the world had five countries successfully developing high-speed railways: Japan, Spain, France, Germany, and South Korea.

Looking back at these timelines, it can be affirmed that China was slow in starting to build high-speed railways, five decades behind Japan and even slower than South Korea, its neighboring countries.

"Go late, come back early"

However, when the projects began to be implemented, the Chinese surprised the world with their working speed and the great achievements they achieved in a short time.

In 2004 (when South Korea opened its first high-speed railway line, the Korea Train Express, with a speed of over 300km/h from Seoul to Busan), China selected four of the world's leading technology companies, Alstom (France), Siemens (Germany), Bombardier (Canada) and Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Japan), to sign technology transfer contracts with its two major state-owned companies, China Southern Railway Corp and China Northern Railway Corp.

It can be said that China has calculated correctly when choosing several partners to avoid being exclusively dependent on one side, while they can receive technological achievements from developed countries to develop their own technology.

With its huge market position, China can make these demands on its international partners. In fact, they have successfully applied this diversified cooperation to many other industries, not just high-speed rail.

In particular, as a country that is behind in high-speed transportation, China also has the conditions to consider which modern type to choose: conventional high-speed railway with a speed of more than 300km/h as Japan, France, Spain, and South Korea have implemented or the magnetic levitation train (Maglev) that Germany is developing with a higher speed, smoother but also much more expensive investment cost.

After much research and discussion, they finally chose conventional high-speed rail (HSR) technology projects and quickly started implementing them.

On August 1, 2008, the first high-speed railway line from Beijing to Tianjin, 117km long, officially opened to traffic. Passenger trains are allowed to run at 350km/h on a 1,435m gauge.

The era of China's high-speed trains begins…

After that, a series of high-speed railway projects in this country were invested in at an unprecedented speed (in contrast to the previous slow research and preparation stages).

In June 2011, the 1,318km high-speed railway from Beijing through seven eastern provinces to Shanghai officially opened.

With a total investment of 220.9 billion yuan, this railway uses self-propelled trains with a top speed of 380 km/h. At this point, the Chinese can be proud of their high-speed means of transport.

After 15 years, by the end of 2023, the total length of high-speed rail lines in China's railway network has been completed, reaching more than 42,000km. However, China's railway stations have not stopped. They are working hard to continue to have 50,000km of high-speed rail by 2025 and 200,000km by 2035 as planned.

By 2024, high-speed rail will connect more than 75% of Chinese cities with populations of 500,000 or more. The high demand for travel in a populous country gives China even more incentive to invest in its own high-speed rail infrastructure and new technologies.

In 2015 alone, the country invested $125 billion in modern transportation. In November 2018, they announced a massive $586 billion economic stimulus package, a large portion of which was dedicated to high-speed rail development.

Another special thing is that China's conditions also give them the ability to build these routes, often cheaper than other countries. B1M's data released in 2021 shows that China invests about 17 million USD for 1 km of high-speed rail, while in Europe it is about 25 - 39 million USD, and in the US about 56 million USD.

Among the countries exporting railway technology to the world, China is included alongside countries such as Japan, France, Korea, Spain, etc.

China's high-speed railway is developing very rapidly - Photo: SOHU

The "secret" of China's high-speed railway "going after the last"

- With a huge population and many densely populated cities, China's high-speed rail industry has the conditions to profit and develop strongly both now and in the future.

- The government's role as a "midwife" is also huge. China's state budget has provided nearly 60% of total infrastructure investment since the mid-2000s when high-speed rail began construction.

- Compensation and clearance to make way for road construction in China is also faster than in many other countries, while this is a very difficult and time-consuming problem for other countries.

- From being a partner with developed countries, China has quickly mastered its own high-speed rail technology. Completely no longer dependent on any country, they can also export technology and equipment.

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A modern high-speed train was whizzing through the peaceful countryside at 200km/h. The journey ended abruptly in horror. Even the most advanced technology can have catastrophic consequences.

Next : Horrific disaster from high-speed train

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/the-gioi-lam-duong-sat-toc-do-cao-ra-sao-ky-8-bi-quyet-phat-trien-duong-sat-cao-toc-trung-quoc-20241029215430827.htm