China is a railway lover's paradise
seneca  Updated: 2004-09-03 09:50

I am a railway buff: in my childhood I played with model trains that were exact copies of their models scaled down 1:87. I had a huge collection of electric locomotives and other rolling stock.

I travelled and still travel preferably by train: on the Tanzania-Zambia (Tanzam) line, after it was built by the Chinese; from Moscow to China and China to Moscow by transsib, etc.

Of course, China is a railway lover's paradise! Here, you can still find steam locomotives and experience the romantic charm of a bygone era! But you can also hop on a 21st century-style, hi-tech German-designed/built underground railway (in Guangzhou) or enjoy a trip to the interior of the country in an air-conditioned hard-sleeper train.

China is spending enormous amounts of money to upgrade its creaking railway infrastructure: in 1992, the 1000 km trunk line from Urumqi to Almaty was inaugurated; a few years later, a new railway line from Nanning to Kunming was opened; over the next few years, China is going to build 16000 kms new tracks.

Even the speeds have significantly increased. And speed is the motto of the trains right now. I have been keeping abreast of developments at Shanghai's maglev construction site completed last year. Germany's magnetic-levitation trains, designed by KRUPP, were slated to transport the bulk of passengers from Shanghai's new airport to the town centre. That was not a very mature decision - tains that run at over 400 kms an hour ought to travel longer distances.

Indeed, originally this train - which requires totally separate tracks above ground - were supposed to connect two major cities in China rather than an airport and its host city.

The Germans came under unusual pressure from their customers in China - they had to make enormous concessions as regards the price and technology transfer. Later, the CHinese hurried the execution of the project while hampering the Germans' efforts by bureaucratic means. Anyway, the Germans delivered just in time... although they were sure their local partners had tried to copy their maglev technology and to produce a similar train composition at a cheaper price albeit one that was slower than the German version.

As we all know, the maglev tain, while a technological marvel, isn't going to take off on any new line! It's too costly, and too technologically advanced, or too little matured.

But China does want to import new high-speed railway technology. For some time, the Japanese with their famous SHINKANSEN ("Bullet tain") technology were in the running...

We can only speculate as to why they were not finally retained last year. Instead, the Germans and the French were given implicit signals that their respective high-speed trains were the Chinese' favourites: The French "train a grande vitesse" (literally, the "high-speed train"), which has been operating in Europe for 20 years. These trains are robust, comfortable and very fast - their cruising speed is between 270 and 380 kms an hour, but they can go as fast as 505 kms an hour... it all depends on the tracks!

However, the Germans were still believing that they could clinch a deal with their own ICE ("Intercity Express") technology. These sleek trains do up to 400 kms an hour, and are more advanced than their French competitors, though less robust. Anyway, the Chinese had 2 excellent options - one French, one German, while the third one was not bad but politically "incorrect"...

What have the decision-makers decided?
That's right - they gave this contract to the Japanese (who partner with a bunch of other firms, including some French but not Alstom which makes TGV trains).

A very interesting development...

The above content represents the view of the author only.

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