Railway expansion powers ahead

Domestic train will target 574.8 KM/H set by France's tgv

China aims to break the high-speed rail world record in a trial run next year.

An experimental train - under development by CSR Corp Ltd - will try to break the record of 574.8 km/h set in 2007 by the TGV, France's high-speed train, according to CSR sources on Tuesday.

CSR made headway toward that target when its high-speed passenger train reached 486.1 km/h on a test run on the Beijing-Shanghai line on Dec 3.

But one thing is certain: China's push for greater train speeds is running right along its massive expansion of its railway industry not only across the nation but globally.

Construction on a railway linking Vientiane, capital of Laos, with the Laos-China border, may begin in 2012 with China's help, said Somsavat Lengsavad, standing deputy prime minister of Laos, on Tuesday.

The railway is part of a proposed high-speed rail network linking China and Singapore via Laos, Thailand and Malaysia. According to media reports, China has agreed to provide loans for the construction of the railway.

The railway is expected to be completed in four years, Somsavat said. Sources with the Ministry of Railways said that trains on that line will run at a speed of 200 km/h.

China is also working with Thailand on a railway. Suthep Thaugsuban, vice-prime minister of Thailand, said that Thailand's parliament approved a framework of negotiations to construct a high-speed railway in the country. This will also be part of the China-Singapore rail network via Laos.

The expanded Southeast Asian connection continues with a 1,920-km rail-line from Kunming, capital of Yunnan province, to Yangon, Myanmar's largest city. Construction is expected to start soon, while a rail link between southwestern China and Cambodia is under discussion, according to media reports.

Also, Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan agreed to jointly build a rail bridge with China that starts from the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region of China, passes through Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan, and arrives in Iran, according to Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki on Nov 15. Then the railway will be divided into two lines, one of which will lead to Turkey and Europe.

During the 7th World Congress on High Speed Rail, China signed eight memoranda and agreements with eight countries to work together on railway construction.

It is the first time that the high-speed rail congress was held in a country outside Europe. Since 2003, China has signed agreements or memoranda of understanding for bilateral cooperation on railways with more than 30 countries, including the United States, Russia, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Poland and India.

Yoshio Ishida, chairman of the International Union of Railways (UIC), which organized the conference, said in a speech on Tuesday that Beijing's role as a host for the conference shows China's greater role in the high-speed rail industry.

Globally, nearly 25,000 km of high-speed rail tracks have been built in 17 countries and regions, including Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and South Korea, according to UIC statistics. China leads the world with a high-speed rail network of 7,531 km, said Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun.

Its first 350-km/h railway linking Beijing and Tianjin with a length of 120 km opened in 2008. By November, five 350-km/h railways were in operation, totaling nearly 2,200 km.

In November, the 1,318-km Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, the longest in China and also the fastest with a top service speed of 380 km/h, finished laying its tracks and will be ready for service next year.

Meanwhile, thousands of kilometers of high-speed railways are under construction now. Minister Liu said that the country's high-speed railways are operating efficiently, without a single fatal accident thus far.

The country plans to expand its high-speed rail network to 13,000 km by 2012, and to 16,000 km by 2020, he said.

"By 2020, passengers will be able to reach most of the provincial capital cities and cities with a population of more than 500,000 from Beijing in less than eight hours," Liu said.