Impact on airlines

A highlight of the sixth speedup is the use of Electric Multiple Units (EMU), or multi-car electric trains, on intercity routes. These high-speed speed trains will connect cities in the three delta areas and major city clusters. The system also links regional centers, such as Beijing and Shanghai.

The development will cut travel time by 20 to 30 percent on average. Passenger transport capacity should increase by at least 18 percent, while cargo transport capacity should rise by 12 percent.

The ministry's goal is to give passengers a faster and more comfortable travel experience and thus keep people using trains for intercity travel.

But Wu Wenhua, a researcher with the National Development and Reform Commission's Macro Economy Research Institute, said that because rail and air travel have competing advantages, the sixth speedup might not have a big effect in terms of dividing the travel market.

"Railways have definite advantages in short and middle-distance transport, which is between 400 and 1,000 km," said Wu, who headed a research project on what effect the speedup would have on airlines.

"But the picture is not as optimistic as the Ministry of Railways would like to think because railways will not be able to compete with airlines in long-distance transport, usually 1,000 km and above."

Raw passenger figures for 2005 from the General Administration of Aviation in China and the Ministry of Railways show both train and air travel is increasing, and nine times as many people take the train as fly. But that is as low as the ratio has ever been.

Ultimately, the future of travel in this country will look something like trains getting most of the short and middle-distance business, but planes used more for long-distance travel, Wu said.

Further speedups ahead?

Two-hundred-fifty kph is the fastest speed that can be reached on the existing tracks, said Hu Yadong at a recent press conference.

However, on sections where the speed will remain comparatively low, there will be room for further speedups, Hu said. The ministry has no timetable for further increases.

Still, it is looking ahead by building passenger rail lines capable of running high-speed trains at 300 kph and beyond to further expand the country's railway transport capacity.

These faster passenger rail lines will mostly parallel existing rail lines, but will be used only for passenger transport.

For example, the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed passenger rail line has been designed to run trains at a speed of 300 kph, with a possible maximum speed of 350 kph.

Though the project has not started construction yet, Nanfang Weekly reported that the electric multiple units to be used on such lines are being built. Such trains will be coded CRH3. CRH stands for China Railway of High Speed.

Once the fast cars are completed, passenger and cargo transportation will be divided and the railways' transport capacity can be further enhanced, the ministry said.

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