World's fastest rail journey starts operation

Shredder

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World's fastest rail journey starts operation

WUHAN, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- The Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway with the world's fastest train journey at a 350-km-per-hour designed speed, started operation Saturday.







A high-speed train runs into Wuhan Railway Station, in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, Dec. 26, 2009. The Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway, which boasts of the world's fastest train journey with a 350-km-per-hour average speed, is debuted on Saturday. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)
Photo Gallery>>>

Two passenger trains rolled out the Wuhan Railway Station and Guangzhou North Railway Station at about 9 a.m. and reached the terminals within three hours, compared with the previous 10 and a half hours.

The service between Wuhan, a metropolis in central China, and Guangzhou City, a business hub in the southern Guangdong Province, was put into trial operation on Dec. 9, reaching a maximum speed of 394.2 km per hour.



A high-speed train stops at the high-speed railway maintenance base in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, Dec. 26, 2009. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)
Photo Gallery>>>


A 600-member delegation from Xianning City boarded the train at10 a.m. at Xianning North Station to promote tourism and attract investment in Guangzhou. Nearly two hours later, they had to take off winter coats on arrival of Guangzhou where the temperature was about 20 degrees Celsius at noon.

"We have long been waiting for the service to start," said Zheng Zengjin, manager of Yaochi Hotel of Xianning and a delegation member. "Previously, we had to suffer the tired and crowded journey as the train ride took more than 10 hours."

"It is really good news for us to have so comfortable and fast ride," he said. "As the travel becomes more frequent, we expect closer cooperation between the Pearl River delta and less developed regions such as Xianning."

In 2004, China hailed the completion of the rail line from Guangzhou to Shenzhen, both in Guangdong Province, with a speed of160 km per hour. Now the speed more than doubled within five years, said Xu Fangliang, general engineer in charge of designing the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed line.

The average speed of the high-speed railways is 243 km per hour in Japan, 232 km per hour in Germany and 277 km per hour in France, he said.

Some pictures:-



 

sob

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These kinds of trains we will never see in india because

1. The front windscreen over the driver has to be covered with a grill -- because local people love th throw stones at the train.

2. The driver cannot be allowed a seat -- because otherwise he will go to sleep. at the best he is allowed a stool to sit.
 

himanshugoswami

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Frikkin impressive stuff....credit where it is due. China is very good at things that help showcase its prowess to the world, while we harp on and on about our "soft power".

Hope Ms. Banerjee takes some similar initiatives once she is done with sticking needles into her communist bretheren :smash:
 

thakur_ritesh

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well i do not see such trains coming up in india any time soon, the priorities at the moment are very different when it comes to developing infrastructure, and more than jazzy trains and railway stations what indian railway's requires at the moment is connectivity, safety (which by the way has improved tremendously over the years), separate freight corridors (an absolute necessity) and speed up the average speed for which if i am not mistaken they have initiated a project to increase the average speeds to around 80-100kms/hr.

i will be more optimistic on similar projects being initiated in india some time in the next 5 year plan where they intend to spend well over a trillion usd on building infrastructure, a figure very much achievable.

sob,

there was a time when a thing like metro rail was a dream for most of us, the airports we see today were absolutely unimaginable as late as 2007, so i guess we should have more confidence in our abilities.

there are glasses in the market which are scratch resistant, through which a bullet doesnt pass, so i am sure they have a cure to pelting of stones.
 

arya

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hi

but know our leaders are just busy to make fool people of India they are busy in low grade politics guys we have to make the things in right way

in India we need good highways and trains
 

sandeepdg

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Forget these kind of snazzy trains, folks ! But I really to wish to see a train running at atleast 200 km/hr in the not so distant future. Hope, Ms. Banerjee takes some cue from their Chinese counterparts ! Hats off to the Chinese, its all because of their hard work and determination.
 

sob

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sob,

there was a time when a thing like metro rail was a dream for most of us, the airports we see today were absolutely unimaginable as late as 2007, so i guess we should have more confidence in our abilities.

there are glasses in the market which are scratch resistant, through which a bullet doesnt pass, so i am sure they have a cure to pelting of stones.
Ritesh,

I agree with you that things have changed tremendously over the last 10 years in India. But the two points that I wrote in my post are unfortunately the truth and I know by firsthand experience.

In the 90s when IR was negotiating with ABB for new electric locos the team from ABB was stunned when they were asked to make these changes in the locos

-- The design of the loco had to be box shaped as it is with all the other locos.

-- The chair for the driver to be removed and replaced with the stool.

-- A wire mesh or grill covering the front screen.

The first two points were made because the authorities feared that there would be resentment amongst the drivers of other older locos and all of them would want to drive the new locos. Regarding the seat, old experience of IR shows that if the seating arrangement for the driver is comfortable then there are chaances that the loco driver will go off to sleep. Hence the stool.

The front grill is a reality as the local people love to pelt stones on passing trains. In Mumbai locals there have been cases of some people losing their eyesight due to stones thrown from the shantys along the railway line. Also in DelhiI have seen in some coaches of the metro the glasses have been cracked due to stones thrown from the houses on the edge of the metro line.
 

tarunraju

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These kinds of trains we will never see in india because

1. The front windscreen over the driver has to be covered with a grill -- because local people love th throw stones at the train.

2. The driver cannot be allowed a seat -- because otherwise he will go to sleep. at the best he is allowed a stool to sit.
Think again.



High-speed capable diesel-hydraulic propulsion multi-unit trains in Andhra Pradesh. The rake is capable of ≥150 km/h.



^That's the new Godavari bridge near Rajamundhry. It's capable of 250 km/h services. Commissioned in '98, built by HCC.
 

bengalraider

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The main impediment to India in having such infrastructure is i am sad to say a lack of basic civic sense among the people including myself(can anyone of us deny having thrown an empty packet of something somewhere at some time), look at that gleaming station . in india even if we build a building that looks the same in a few months the glass will be dirty, the tracks covered in excretement and spit with stray animals all around.
another impediment would be the safety aspect a high speed train hitting a relatively large stone on the tracks can have disastrous consequences, there is along way to go before we can hope to run such trains in india.
 

tarunraju

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The main impediment to India in having such infrastructure is i am sad to say a lack of basic civic sense among the people including myself(can anyone of us deny having thrown an empty packet of something somewhere at some time), look at that gleaming station . in india even if we build a building that looks the same in a few months the glass will be dirty, the tracks covered in excretement and spit with stray animals all around.
another impediment would be the safety aspect a high speed train hitting a relatively large stone on the tracks can have disastrous consequences, there is along way to go before we can hope to run such trains in india.

The 'premium' nature of high-speed trains is what will ensure civic sense. Take the Delhi metro for example. Commuting in it comes at a small but significant premium. Hence people with usually good civic sense travel. DMRC trains and stations are clean as museums, even after this long.

Similarly, you will note how the 3A, 2A, and 1A classes of express trains are clean inside. High-speed trains will naturally be as expensive as traveling in those classes of the railways, hence civic-aware people are bound to travel in them
 

A.V.

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congrats to all the chinese friends here this is really something to boast about and a very good example which the world will follow
this truely reflects a chinese achievement and accomplishment that is worldclass
when members keep speaking about j-10 and its power i always maintain its not worldclass nothing new that the world has not seen but this is what is worldclass

congratulations to china and its citizens
 

thakur_ritesh

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okay guys as we discuss this, here is something of interest.

Japan offered to provide bullet train technology to the Indian Railways in its quest to build the Western Dedicated Freight Corridor project from Rewari in Haryana to Vadodara in Gujarat.

http://www.defenceforum.in/forum/in...ces/6708-indo-japan-relations.html#post104132
this comes from the recent visit of the japanese PM to india.

something that dates back to last year:

Indian Railways plans to run Japanese-style, high-speed bullet trains on five routes across the country, according to Indian news reports.

The state rail company is planning to select an international consultancy to carry out a study in August, Indian Railways Board Chairman Kalyan Coomar Jena told The Calcutta Telegraph.

However, the trains are expected to cost around Rs600 per kilometre, making it seem "improbable" in India at this time, Jena admitted to reporters.

The five selected routes are Mumbai-Pune, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, Chennai-Ernakulam via Coimbatore and Bangalore, Delhi-Amritsar and Howrah-Haldia.

The chairman also unveiled plans to build two "world class" stations on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar – one of 25 sites identified for model stations across the country - and Bangalore.

Jena told reporters that a Chinese team has already visited the proposed site in the state capital and is set to draw up a masterplan soon.

http://www.railway-technology.com/news/news4452.html
so i think the target would be next 5year plan.
 

arya

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hi

guys we can much better the china

govt just has to link Delhi-Mumbai- and other major state with fast trains

we can do with public pvt corporation its not a hard work just need a willpower

but i thing first we need better roads and good and high speed highway
 

no smoking

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congrats to all the chinese friends here this is really something to boast about and a very good example which the world will follow
this truely reflects a chinese achievement and accomplishment that is worldclass
Thanks. But i think we need 2 more years to check if this kind of train is realy cop with china's need.

when members keep speaking about j-10 and its power i always maintain its not worldclass nothing new that the world has not seen but this is what is worldclass

congratulations to china and its citizens
The most important thing is that we are moving forward.
 

badguy2000

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The main impediment to India in having such infrastructure is i am sad to say a lack of basic civic sense among the people including myself(can anyone of us deny having thrown an empty packet of something somewhere at some time), look at that gleaming station . in india even if we build a building that looks the same in a few months the glass will be dirty, the tracks covered in excretement and spit with stray animals all around.
another impediment would be the safety aspect a high speed train hitting a relatively large stone on the tracks can have disastrous consequences, there is along way to go before we can hope to run such trains in india.
thousands of cameras are fixed along the high speed railways for supervision.

besides, high speed railways are isolated or on viivaducts.
 

Energon

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First, it is not necessary for everyone to immediately start drawing comparisons with India the minute any Chinese project is unveiled; such an endeavor is categorically pointless.

Personally, at times I find the implications of a project to mean much more than the project itself. In this case it's that of the Chinese government's ability to organize, plan, and execute projects in a variety of sectors.

Eventually the success or failure of a nation at large is determined by its ability to achieve set objectives on multiple fronts. This is what sets developed nations apart from the underdeveloped ones. It also helps identify the outliers. The Soviet Union for instance excelled in a few sectors, but none of them had any contribution to the growth or betterment of their own society and eventually their entire system was exposed for being a hollow facade.

China isn't a developed nation, nor will it be (in the classical sense) for some time to come, but their ability to set and achieve a variety to goals certainly means that they are on the right path.
 

tarunraju

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First, it is not necessary for everyone to immediately start drawing comparisons with India the minute any Chinese project is unveiled; such and endeavor is categorically pointless.
I didn't. The other person said such a thing as locomotives without windshield grills, and 'such trains' isn't possible in India, I showed him it already exists. Next time, try reading text, too.

Personally, at times I find the implications of a project to mean much more than the project itself. In this case it's that of the Chinese government's ability to organize, plan, and execute projects in a variety of sectors.
What it couldn't organize is large-scale entrepreneurship, and a thriving private sector. Any government with the money can execute such projects, it's when the government is able to mobilize its intellectuals to take up entrepreneurship, that it will gain the distinction of being able to execute projects in a variety of sectors. The only thing that stands between China and "developed nation" status is a private-sector.

Eventually the success or failure of a nation at large is determined by its ability to achieve set objectives on multiple fronts. This is what sets developed nations apart from the underdeveloped ones. It also helps identify the outliers. The Soviet Union for instance excelled in a few sectors, but none of them had any contribution to the growth or betterment of their own society and eventually their entire system was exposed for being a hollow facade.
Breaking news: China is similar to the Soviet Union in this regard. Its government excels in a few sectors: infrastructure and industrialization, but that doesn't quite translate into betterment of the society on a macro-scale. Mismanagement of industrial waste continues to have ill effects on vast populations, and the Chinese populace confined to the villages by archaic 'work-permit' based regulations are given a breakneck world of sweatshops and harsh peasantry, little is done to better that section of the society (which by the way is the largest), simply jobs that provide sustainence doesn't cut it, in the direction you highlighted.

China isn't a developed nation, nor will it be (in the classical sense) for some time to come, but their ability to set and achieve a variety to goals certainly means that they are on the right path.
Let them scrap archaic work-permit based regulations of human movement, let them have a private-sector to speak of, besides the cosmetic development. They will then be on the right path.

--
Before the Chinese get their undergarments up in a bunch, let me disclaim that the above wasn't a Sino-Indian comparison. Now, if I have to really jump into comparisons, unlike this Chinese high-speed rail which links two major cities, the Indian train pictured above connects villages in my state of Andhra Pradesh (look at the background, the kind of people near the train). I've traveled 200 km for 40 Rupees (a little under a dollar). My government is building the right kind of trains.
 

mattster

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Metro Rail is really good in big cities for easing congestion.

But when you are talking about high-speed rail system from major cities separated by a couple hundreds of miles, then the cost becomes quite close to taking a cheap no-frills flight.

I took the TGV from Marseille to Paris this year and it took about 2 hours and the cost was not much cheaper than flying on a low-cost European airline like Easyjet.

So for a country like India or China to have really high-speed rail that works...it would have to be cheaper that flying low cost airlines. I doubt if that is possible unless it is subsidized.

The only real advantage of taking the high-speed rail was that the security and time to get into the train was much shorter and less security checks, etc but then again it takes longer than flying.

I would be curious to know from our Chinese members what the fare between the 2 cities in China is, and how it compares to the cost of flying on a low-cost airline between these 2 cities.


BTW: I have to say that the Wuhan Railway station and the high-speed trains look very impressive.
 

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