Laying the rails for fast development of railroads

In 1865, a British merchant built a narrow gauge railroad, 600 meters in length, outside the Xuanwu Gate in Beijing to demonstrate the technology to the imperial court of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). But the court found it "exceedingly special and strange in the utmost" and promptly had the railway dismantled soon after the display.

It was not until 11 years later, in 1876, that the first railroad to operate commercially in China opened in Shanghai. Built by a British trading firm, the railway, known as the Woosung Road, connected the then American Concession in the present-day Zhabei district of Shanghai to Woosung in the present-day Baoshan district.

The early development of railway transportation in China was quite slow in the late 19th century, while extensive railway networks were already in place in Europe, North America, India and Japan. Despite this, the country started embracing railways and saw their fast development in the early and late 20th century. Moreover, China also saw a remarkable development of high-speed railways in the early 21st century.

Since the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway, with a design speed of 350 kilometers per hour, entered operation in 2008, a fast-expanding modern high-speed railway network has been operating efficiently, boosting China's ability to become the world's second-largest economy.

The country has now built the world's largest high-speed railway network to address people's growing demand for convenient and comfortable travel. The total operational length of China's high-speed railway network has exceeded 45,000 kilometers, with Fuxing high-speed trains operating across 31 provincial-level regions nationwide as of the end of last year.

Despite being a latecomer, railways play an important role in boosting China's development as they effectively increase logistic efficiency, enabling resources and goods to be distributed nationwide, and facilitate population flows across the large country.

The fast development of China's high-speed railway network stems from the country's opening-up, international cooperation and endogenous innovations. Likewise, the country is committed to sharing its experience and know-how in the field of high-speed railways with other countries, particularly the less-developed ones, to promote their development.

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the modern railway. That the 12th World Congress on High-Speed Rail is being held in Beijing, from Tuesday to Friday, demonstrates the important position, advantages and contributions of China to the development of the world's high-speed railways, as well as the country's dedication to sharing its high-speed railway development fruits with the rest of the world.

Co-hosted by China State Railway Group Company Limited and the International Union of Railways, the event, with the theme "High-Speed Rail: Innovation and Development for a Better Life", adopts the form of plenary sessions, roundtable forums and group technical exchanges. The participants include government officials, ambassadors to China, corporate executives, experts and scholars from various member units of the UIC and relevant countries, regions and international organizations.

The World Congress on High-Speed Rail was launched by the UIC in 1992. Held every two to three years, it has now become a global event to showcase and promote exchanges on the achievements of the world's high-speed railway development, and a major international conference in the field of high-speed railway technology and operation. It has an important influence in the global high-speed railway field.

On the sidelines of the event in Beijing, the Chinese organizers are hosting the Modern Railways 2025 exhibition to showcase advanced railway technologies and equipment from all over the world.

Aimed at building a platform for displaying high-speed railway achievements, promoting technical exchanges, and industrial collaboration in various countries, and deepening exchanges on major issues of future high-speed railway innovation and development, the 12th World Congress on High-Speed Rail China is hosting serves to further deepen the exchanges and cooperation between it and other countries in the field of railways, promotes high-speed rail to better serve economic and social development, and injects new impetus into the development of the world's high-speed rail.