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Not so long ago, another version of a high-speed passenger train, the CR450, passed running tests in China. It accelerated to a speed of 453 km/h. Soon these trains will run on the rails of China's existing high-speed railroads and become the fastest regular trains in the world.
Such a train could cover the distance from Moscow to St. Petersburg in 1.5 hours.
The Fuxing train, which will be twice as long as the current high-speed trains, is also being prepared for use. With a length of 415 meters, it will reach speeds of up to 350 km/h and carry up to a thousand passengers.
China has also developed a magnetic cushion train that reaches speeds of up to 650 km/h. An experimental road with such a train is operating in the Shanghai area, carrying passengers.
At the end of the eighties of the last century, the journey from Beijing to Shanghai took two days, and the average speed on Chinese railroads did not exceed 30-40 km/h. But now China is far ahead of all countries of the world in the development of high-speed rail transportation. The network of such roads (with speeds of 300 km and more) is more than 35 thousand kilometers. Another 15,000 kilometers are roads on which trains move at speeds of up to 250 km/h.
High-speed railroads have connected the main administrative centers of China, making it a competitor to aviation. For example, the 1300 kilometer journey from Beijing to Shanghai takes about 4 hours, depending on the number of train stops. At the same time, a ticket for such a train costs about $70. And in the near future, the new CR450 train will deliver passengers from Beijing to Shanghai in 2.5 hours.
The distance between Beijing and Guangzhou, the largest economic center in Southern China, is now covered in 8 hours. This distance can be compared to the distance from Moscow to Tyumen, which Russian train covers in more than a day.
When you ride on a high-speed train for the first time, you feel a real shock. The train runs at a speed of 350 kilometers, and the water from the glass on the table does not spill all along the way and even at stops. The comfort is amazing, the movement is soft, and the train is quiet. The clear organization of traffic, boarding terminals, huge stations are also impressive. In addition, Chinese high-speed railroads are the safest in the world. Because the Chinese have developed and apply unique technologies in this area, including special heavy-duty rails and their fasteners, special brakes, and air vortex dampening systems. And, of course, these are high-speed trains developed by Chinese engineers and incorporating all the achievements of science and technology.
When you get to one of the factories producing railroad trains, which is located near the city of Nanjing, it seems as if you are in a factory producing spaceships or rockets. Workers (even, rather, they are engineers) in snow-white overalls and shoe covers, wearing special surgical-like gloves. Perfect cleanliness, precise organization of production, the highest discipline.
Russia was making plans to build a high-speed highway that would connect Moscow and Kazan and then go all the way to the border with China. About 100 million rubles were spent on design and survey works. China was ready to cooperate in this construction, to give an interest-free loan of up to 500 billion rubles. The Chinese were not against building this road as a whole and providing a full set of equipment. However, then the project was canceled. The main motivation was high costs, which are unlikely to be recouped in the near future.
In China, the national high-speed railways are so far scheduled to be unprofitable. Only a few constantly busy routes, including the Beijing-Shanghai route, generate revenue. By the way, the construction of this highway required colossal investments and implementation of unique engineering solutions. Dozens of kilometers of this road pass over the water surface, over bridges and tunnels. However, the Chinese leadership believes that high-speed railroads are of great benefit, linking different regions and allowing the population to move quickly around the country. This is reflected in the development of technology and the economy as a whole. Low ticket prices on high-speed trains are maintained consciously and subsidized by the government. During the period of rapid development of high-speed trains in 2005-2015, the PRC invested about 300 billion US dollars in their construction. There is a popular belief in China that high-speed railroads unite the country like hieroglyphic writing.
According to China's transport strategy, the network of railroads with speeds of 300 km/h and above will increase to 50,000-60,000 kilometers by 2035. Railroads with train speeds of 250 km/h and above will cover at least 95 percent of cities with a population of over 500 million people.
Chinese railroads together with aviation, road transport play a big role in the implementation of China's transportation strategy. By 2035, it is planned to form the so-called all-China transportation ring «1-2-3» for passenger transportation. This means that the travel time within an individual city, across an urban agglomeration and between any two of the country's major cities will be reduced to one, two and three hours, respectively.