China builds first high-speed railway through karst region

Construction of China's first high-speed railway running through the country's southwest karst regions was completed on Sunday.

The 857-km railway linking Guiyang, capital of landlocked mountainous province of Guizhou, with south China's economic powerhouse Guangzhou, is expected to become operational on Friday.

Guizhou has the world's most typical karst plateau landscape, which was inducted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007. Karst topography is a landscape formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone.

Stretching through the complicated karst clusters, the railway had half of its length run through 238 tunnels, two of which are more than 14 km long, said Zhang Jianbo, general manager of the Guiyang-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway Co.

It took builders four years to drill through the two longest tunnels. Construction was often disrupted by breaking rocks, rupture of strata and water infiltration, Zhang said.

The construction company applied for six national patents covering their shockproof technology which was adopted to reduce the vibration that occurs when a train travelling at 250 km/hour runs through mountain tunnels.

Wang Mengshu, a tunnel expert with the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said the technology and machinery engineering developed for building the Guiyang-Guangzhou high-speed railway represents the country's new-generation innovation in tunnel engineering.
 Source: Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
21/12/14
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Related:

• China launches longest high-speed train line (VIDEO CCTV)

China approves new railway in Tibet

China has approved construction of a railway linking Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region to Nyingchi in its east, local authorities said Friday.

According to the plan approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Lhasa to Nyingchi section of the Sichuan-Tibet railway runs 402 km from Nyingchi to Xierong, a stop on the Lhasa-Xigaze line.

The 32-km section from Xierong to Lhasa will be electrified.

The new Tibet line was one of three rail lines approved by the country's top economic planning body. The other two are from Ordos in the northern Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region to Ji'an in the eastern Jiangxi Province, and from Datong in the northern Shanxi Province to Zhangjiakou in neighboring Hebei Province. The total investment of the three is 250 billion yuan (40 billion US dollars).

The Tibet project will cost 36.6 billion yuan and take seven years to complete. Sate-owned China Railway Corporation will build and operate the line.

The designed speed for passenger trains will be 160 km per hour. The line will have a cargo capacity of 10 million tonnes per year.

"The Lhasa to Nyingchi railway section is conducive to improving the regional road network and transportation capacity to better integrate Tibet with other parts of China," said Yang Yulin, a Tibet railway official.

After completion, the Sichuan-Tibet railway will form a ring with the Qinghai-Tibet railway, which will bring more economic benefit, according to Wang Daiyuan with the Tibet Academy of Social Sciences.

Transport has long been a bottleneck for tourism in Tibet. More tourists will be able to visit Tibet via the Sichuan-Tibet railway, said Wang.

The Qinghai-Tibet railway began operations in 2006, introducing railway transportation into Tibet for the first time in history. The railway links Xining, capital of Qinghai Province, with Lhasa.

In August, a 251 km railway line linked Lhasa and Xigaze, the second city in the region.

Tourist arrivals in Tibet reached 12.9 million last year from 1.8 million in 2005. The region's gross domestic product reached 80 billion yuan in 2013, compared with 34 billion yuan in 2006.

Lines connecting Xigaze with Yadong, Jilung and Nyalam border ports are being planned.
 Source: Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
31/10/14
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Related:

• China accelerates tourism development in Tibet 

• Double threat for Tibet (Climate change and human development are jeopardizing the plateau’s fragile environment.)

• Tibet's intangible heritage well-protected, says official

• China to upgrade transport infrastructures in Tibet (will also build more airports in Tibet)

China to upgrade transport infrastructures in Tibet (will also build more airports in Tibet)

China has vowed to further promote the development of transport infrastructures in Tibet to make travels on "the roof of the world" much easier.

The Ministry of Transport (MOT) said in a guideline that China aims to expand highways in the autonomous region to 110,000 kilometers by 2020.

China plans to complete a primary network of railways by then with 1,300 kilometers of rails in operation. The country will also build more airports in Tibet.

Building roads connecting rural areas has become the policy focus. The authorities plans to make sure that by 2020, every village in Tibet has at least one road connecting with the outside.

To that end, the MOT will beef up support to the construction of transport infrastructures in Tibet and make specific plans to ensure the accomplishment of these targets.

Tibet has received about 83 billion yuan ($13 billion) in transport investment during the last 20 years.

In ancient times, it usually took months even years for people living in the country's middle and eastern regions to get to Tibet.

Although airlines, railways and expressways have made travels to Tibet much more convenient, the transport infrastructures in the autonomous region are still outdated.

"The development of transport in Tibet is crucial to China's national security and lasting prosperity in the autonomous region, " said the MOT guideline.
Source:Xinhua - globaltimes.cn
27/7/14
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Kerch bridge will be designed for cars and trains. Underwater tunnel is optional. - ministry

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s Transportation Ministry on Wednesday to launch the construction of two bridges over the Kerch Strait.
“We need there two bridges both for automobile and railway transportation,” Putin said addressing a session with the members of the Russian government.
Russian Transport minister Maxim Sokolov told the president that there was also a variant of constructing a transportation tunnel under the Kerch Strait.

The Kerch Strait connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov at the same time separating Russia’s Taman Peninsula and the Kerch Peninsula in Crimea. The strait ranges in its width between 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) and 15 kilometers (9.3 miles), and is up to 18 meters (almost 60 feet) deep.
Transport minister Maksim Sokolov has also added that Russia’s transport links with Crimea are operating without disruptions.
According to the minister, currently there are seven pairs of passenger trains running between Moscow and Crimea. Also, there are three flights from Moscow a day. If it needed, the number of flights may be increased to fourteen, he said.
http://en.itar-tass.com
19/3/14
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Strait of Kerch:Google Maps

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China launches longest high-speed train line (VIDEO CCTV)

Trains travelling at 300kph on world's fastest rail line run 2,298km between the capital and Guangzhou.
China has opened the world's longest high-speed rail line, which runs almost 2,300km from the country's capital in the north to Guangzhou, an economic hub in southern China.
The line officially started service on Wednesday when a train departed from Beijing at 9am for Guangzhou. Another train left Guangzhou for Beijing an hour later. 
Trains on this high-speed line will initially run at 300kph with a total travel time of about eight hours between the two cities, compared with the previous time length of 20 hours.
The rail line includes 35 stops in major cities such as Zhenghzhou, Wuhan on the Yangze River and Gangsha. 

State media have reported that December 26 was chosen as the date to open the Beijing-Guangzhou line to commemorate the birth of the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong in 1893. 
Railway is an essential part in China's transportation system, and its government plans to build a grid of high-speed railways with four east-west lines and four north-south lines by 2020.
China's high-speed rail network was established in 2007, but has fast become the world's largest with 8,358 kilometres of track at the end of 2010. That is expected to almost double to 16,000km by 2020. 
The railway network, however, has been plagued by graft and safety scandals, most notably a deadly bullet train collision in July 2011 that killed 40 people and led to public outrage.
The accident was China's worst rail disaster since 2008 and caused a torrent of criticism aimed at the government amid accusations that authorities compromised safety in their rush to expand the network.
Authorities said they had taken steps ahead of the new line's opening to improve maintenance and inspection of infrastructure and emergency response measures.
"The emergency rescue system and all kinds of emergency pre-plans are established to improve emergency response ability," according to a ministry booklet.
.aljazeera.com
26/12/12 
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• Studio interview: Significance of world´s longest rail line

Linking the capital, five provinces and twenty-eight cities, China has opened the longest high-speed rail network in the world. December 26th marks the third anniversary of China’s successful Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed rail link, and on the same day the new Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed rail link goes into operation. Full story >>

For more on the economic aspects, we're joined in the studio by Professor Liu Baocheng from the University of International Business and Economics.
Q1, The high-speed line from Beijing to South China’s Guangzhou is the world’s longest, nearly 23-hundred kilometers long. How important is it to the expansion of the country’s high speed railway network?
Q2, The new line is going into operation before the Spring Festival holiday. How is it going to make things easier for travelers?
Q3, The high-speed railway connects Beijing with five provincial capitals -- Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Changsha and Guangzhou. Explain to our audience how it will help boost the national economy.
Q4, How will the new line boost tourism at the stops along the route?
Q5, What other sectors will benefit from the new service?