The fast train through China

By Tony Cross 03 Jan 2013

CHINA

While the UK enters its third year to ponder the benefits of a 100-mile high-speed train route from London to Birmingham, China has opened a new bullet train route from Beijing to Guangzhou - a trip that covers 35 cities and half the entire country in just eight hours.

The 1425-mile journey is approximately the equivalent of going by train from London to Tripoli, and with 155 pairs of trains making the journey, it is an engineering achievement that's difficult to imagine in European terms. There were no high speed trains in China until 2007, and already the country now has the biggest super fast rail network in the world.

Beginning its journey in the north from Beijing West Railway Station, the new line stretches south through major destinations including Zhengzhou, Wuhan on the Yangtze River and Changsha. Cheapest seats one-way for the journey on the new trains is 500 Yuan (approximately £50). The route more than halves the previous travel time of 20 hours, though the original (cheaper and slower) trains will still make the journey on parallel lines.

 

It's 18 months since China opened the Beijing to Shanghai high speed train line, which again saw travel time for the 800 miles between the two major cities halved - this time to less than five hours. The new route means travellers visiting the country have another new way to travel from north to south across China, and it is also expected to reduce air fares as trains provide additional competition for passengers.

China has ambitious plans to further extend its railways, including routes spanning east to west over the next five years. The expansion of the network has not been without controversy, including recent protests about the proximity of new high speed lines to housing in Beijing, accusations of corruption within the Ministry of Railways, and the 2011 Wenzhou train collision in which 40 people were killed and around 200 injured.

However, with expenditure on high speed trains by the Chinese government running at around £65 billion per year, it puts the UK's high speed plans (around £30 billion over eight years) in sharp contrast, as China's blueprint to become a 21st century high tech economy turns from a bureaucrat's dream into a blurry, super fast reality.