China Goes Big on High Speed Rail

During the month of December 2014, five new high-speed rail lines for dedicated passenger service, were opened in China, adding 3,000 km to the existing base of over 11,000 km of high-speed rail in the nation.

In the west, on the Silk Road route, the 1,223 km eastern portion of the Urumqi-Lanzhou Passenger-Dedicated Line was opened for commercial service Dec. 26, between Hami and Lanzhou. Already last November, the 553 km western portion was opened, going from Hami to Urumqi.

Two new inter-city connector Passenger-Dedicated lines were inaugurated in early December:

In southern China, the Guiyang-Guangzhou 857 km route (operating at 300 km/hr). The line, with 20 stations, is served initially by 20 trains each way, daily.

The 577 km Nanning-Guangzhou line (for 200 km/hr), runs 18 trains each way, per day.

On Dec. 28, two more lines were opened: The 299 km Jimo-Rongcheng line operates at 250 km/hr. The 50 km route from Zhengzhou to Kaifeng, accommodates a regular shuttle train service, providing an end-to-end travel time of 19 minutes.

In contrast, the United States has a total track length of high-speed rail of 730 km, on the Washington, D.C. to Boston route. Nationwide, most inter-city passenger service is not only slow-speed, but shares freight lines, tends to run only two trains a day, and in many places, to routinely run 5-7 hours late, because of the priority given unit trains hauling shale oil. On Jan. 6, in California, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for a 1,280 km Los Angeles to San Francisco high-speed rail line. It was technically, “to commemorate the start of sustained construction,” because of the very long time period anticipated to build it.