| Chinese High-Speed Rail: Why Fly When You Can Glide? |
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| Wednesday, 28 April 2010 | John Marten | Blog Entry |
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The world's fastest train portion is already finished. The route—between Guangzhou in southern China and Wuhan in the center—sports speeds averaging 350 kph (217 mph). The engine is fully electric, removing the need for heavy fuel tanks and engines, letting it reduce the formerly 10½-hour train journey to a bare three hours on the express. With a full-service crew, comfy seats and even a police presence (cutting down on those nasty pickpockets), the train threatens to make a dent in air traffic. Airlines have slashed their prices down to a measly $28, and still seem to be smarting. Having just one line running the fastest train in the world is amazing enough, but what Beijing plans is to link the entire country with high-speed rail. China is already crisscrossed by miles of rail lines, and trains are the preferred method of travel for most Chinese. People cram into double-decker train cars, and scrunch together in seats that resemble restaurant booths with tiny tables under the windows. Often it's so crowded that people have to sit on their luggage in the aisles—some even sleeping that way on overnight rides. While price continues to make such trips the most practical for most Chinese, a growing highway network, increased car ownership and reduced airfare are making other modes of transport more appealing. After all, why sleep in the aisle for a 13-hour, non-high-speed train ride, with all its stops for freight lines, when a new highway has reduced the travel time to three hours? Thankfully, the expanding high-speed system promises to keep train transport alive, reducing the problems of road congestion and car-created air pollution. Could a rail system like China's be implemented in a nation of a similar geographic size—the USA? It’s an attractive prospect. After all, the fastest current rail system in the US, the Acela Express, takes three and a half hours to make the 300 km trip from Boston to New York—something the Chinese trains could accomplish in under an hour. The US government has established grants to build high-speed routes in California, Illinois and Florida, though certainly not anywhere near the scale of the Chinese project. Critics point out that trains require large subsidies and that only a relatively small percentage of workers commute by rail. Critics of the critics rebut that more people would ride the rail if it were faster and more convenient, thus improving profits. Regardless of who's right, the US high-speed railway is taking its first tentative steps, and when it looks for experienced railway engineers to develop the project, who does it turn to? None other than the Chinese. How's that for some serious strutting?
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Written by jamest , April 29, 2010
I wish the USA would GET A CLUE and set up high-speed trains between major US cities--especially along the east and west coasts. Also, what about a cross country line between New York and Los Angeles by way of Chicago. Then individual states could set up high-speed passenger service between their major metro areas and join them all to the cross-country line. Thus, a huge percentage of Americans would be connected by train--which is in my opinion, not only good for the environment, but the most comfortable way to travel and view the scenery.
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In the world of public transportation strutting and preening, the best-plumed bird in the room is China. What better way to tell the rest of the world to 'get with it' than to build the world's fastest train—and then 
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