CHINA | High Speed Rail

[hmmwv]

Originally Posted by city_thing

Vanity Fair actually is one of the best magazines for editorials and articles. It regularly has contributions by great, well respected writers like Christopher Hitchens.

That's interesting, I have never personally read Vanity Fair before, always thought that's kinda of a girl magazine. I think as far as fact checks go, financial magazines such as Money are usually pretty good.

[city_thing]

It's a great mag. Hitchens is currently dying from cancer and is writing about it in each issue - completely fascinating. It was also the first news source to release the name of Deep Throat (the mole that brought down Nixon).

[stingstingsting]

Originally Posted by hmmwv

That's interesting, I have never personally read Vanity Fair before, always thought that's kinda of a girl magazine. I think as far as fact checks go, financial magazines such as Money are usually pretty good.

Much like the Christian Science Monitor, the name initially deceived me as well. On the other hand, I find the CSM to be one of the most objective news sources one can find in the US, or even the world.

[ANR]

Updated: 2011-11-10
By Xin Dingding
China Daily

BEIJING - A number of high-speed railway projects slated to open this year will have their big day postponed to next year or later, railway construction companies said. A 200 km/h railway between Hefei and Bengbu in East China's Anhui province was set to be ready for operation by Nov 20 this year, but its debut has been postponed to next year, said an official with China Railway 4th Group Co Limited, insisting on anonymity. "Work on the project is still on ... but on a small scale, not in full swing," he said. A publicity official with the company said that the tracks could not be completely laid because of a money crunch that the railways ministry faces. "According to the contracts, the rails we lay out are provided by the project company established by the ministry. But it failed to provide the rails to us on time. That's why we still have not finished laying the tracks," she said.

Another rail project the company is involved in - the 350 km/h Shijiazhuang-Wuhan railway - is also set to have its opening postponed from this year to next year or later, she said. The laying of the tracks for the 840-km line, part of the north-south trunk line connecting Beijing, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, is complete. But the remaining work, such as testing the project's electricity supply, is not finished yet, she said. Zhang Cheng, deputy general manager of China Railway 11th Bureau Group Co Ltd, was quoted by Xinhua News Agency as saying that the delay resulted from railway authorities' carrying out national railway-safety overhauls after the Wenzhou train crash in July that killed 40 passengers. The safety checkups led to those projects making a slow progress, Zhang said. Xinhua reported that apart from the Shijiazhuang-Wuhan railway, three other railways coming out of Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province, have been delayed too.

In Northeast China, a railway linking Harbin and Dalian, which is scheduled to open this year, is also sure to be delayed, because work on the line has been suspended since the accident and has not resumed yet, said an official with Shenyang railway bureau, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "In the past, speed was the most important thing. Nowadays, safety is the priority," he said. After the deadly crash, Sheng Guangzu, the railway minister, ordered a slowing down of the speed of all bullet trains and stressed that there should be no rush to finish construction work earlier than the stipulated period.

Insiders believe that the widespread delay in making new lines operational is also caused by a fund shortage faced by the ministry. The Ministry of Railways was reportedly unable to raise enough money to support the extensive railway construction spanning more than 10,000 km, as the cash flow was tightened and its reputation took a beating following the accident. But now with a fresh allotment of 200 billion yuan ($31.6 billion) from the central government, the railways ministry has promised to pay off some of its creditors before Nov 20 to guarantee the progress of key projects. On Tuesday, it auctioned 30 billion yuan worth of bonds.

Still, the delay from this year to next year comes as a blow to some passengers who had expected to go on board fast trains soon. Cui Li, a 23-year-old woman in Bengbu of Anhui province, who travels to Hefei on business once a month, said she took a two-to-three hour bus ride between the two cities. "The new train service would take only 40 minutes (to cover the distance). The train currently available is an old one. It is really unpleasant to ride on," she said. "I heard the delay was to ensure safety, but the likelihood of high-speed train accidents is extremely small, almost the same as that on plane rides. My colleagues and I care more about convenience," she said.

But others supported the ministry's new emphasis on safety. Chen Tianhong, a 24-year-old student at Wuhan University from Jiangxi province, said it was very thoughtful of the government to delay opening new lines out of safety concerns. "A rapid expansion of transportation infrastructures will bring about more disasters someday. Safety issues require more attention than speed," he said.

[Huhu]

Originally Posted by stingstingsting

Much like the Christian Science Monitor, the name initially deceived me as well. On the other hand, I find the CSM to be one of the most objective news sources one can find in the US, or even the world.

CSM was created with the intention of cutting out sensationalist news reporting. I think it does a decent job.

For a China related article, read this and then come to your own conclusion: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-...oes-China-want

[hkskyline]

Jobs crunch hits traffic engineering graduates
China Daily

BEIJING, Nov. 10 -- Shi Xin, a fourth-year student of traffic engineering at Shijiazhuang Tiedao University, said he never expected looking for a job could turn out to be so arduous.

The graduate-to-be has attended two job fairs on the campus and sent his resume to more than 10 possible employers since September, but has not received a single response worth getting excited about.

"The demand for traffic engineering graduates was always robust," he said. "But this year the situation is reversed."

According to Shi, only about 50 of some 240 students in his major have found jobs. Most of them would have had better luck had they been in the job market this past year.

Dong Cang, Shi's classmate, said many major railway companies have slashed their number of new recruits.

"Jobs were cut to almost one fifth of the numbers last year as the industry was facing many troubles," he said.

Jin Mengmeng, who studies railway engineering, finds the current sluggish job market depressing, especially since she believes female candidates are up against tougher competition.

"Some of my seniors, who found employment this past year, were sent back home in September, waiting for job assignments," she said.

The construction of railways in China slowed down after a deadly train crash near Wenzhou in East China in July. The public also raised concerns over rail safety as two subway trains rear-ended in Shanghai two months later, injuring nearly 300 passengers.

Media reports said in mid-October that the country's rail projects, spanning 10,000 km, have been suspended due to a cash crunch. Many migrant workers had not been paid for six months while rail construction companies owed big sums to cement and steel suppliers.

In East China's Shandong province, new graduates specially trained to build tracks, bridges, tunnels and other railway-related features were taking up jobs in civil engineering as major employers, such as China Railway Group, delayed or canceled campus recruitment, the local newspaper Qilu Evening News reported.

"Jobs in the industry decreased by 60 percent to 80 percent this year, especially those in engineering and construction companies," said Hu Xiaoting, a recruitment specialist at tl.job1001.com, a Shenzhen-based website that provides human resources solutions for more than 3,000 railway enterprises.

"Work in related areas, such as power supply or railway signaling, was also affected," Hu said.

Huo Yamin, deputy head of the employment office at Southwest Jiaotong Univeristy, said there were new trends in the employment market.

"Students tend to sign work contract with employers very early instead of shopping around," she said.

"More students are willing to take up jobs in the western regions and at the grassroots level, which were less attractive before."

In order to help students find employment, the office encouraged them to be more flexible with choices, such as trying related professions in the booming industry of subway construction, Huo said.

The Chinese government has approved work on urban rail transit projects in 28 cities, covering a total length of 2,700 kilometers and needing an investment of more than 1 trillion yuan ($158 billion), according to China Communications and Transportation Association.

"We have seen that more and more job seekers are prone to finding a position in the urban railway industry," Hu Xiaoting said.

Although dismayed by the current results, Shi Xin is hopeful about the second round of campus recruitments, due in March.

"You never know about the ever-changing job market," he said. "And in the worst case scenario I would still find a job with a small house-building company, rather than be unemployed."

[HunanChina]

nice view , isn't it?

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzEwNDEwNjky.html



wuhan railway station

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMTQyNjU0MTQ4.html

[HunanChina]

18 seconds！

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzEzMjE4NDQw.html


http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzA4MzgwODU2.html

[HunanChina]

Nanjing South Railway Station

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzAwMTY4NDAw.html


http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzAwMTkxODc2.html


http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzAwMTcwNjEy.html

[HunanChina]

new design? I have no idea.

CRH3 evolution

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzIyMDY4OTEy.html

CRH-XXX road to future.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzIyMDY2MDQ4.html



http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzIyMDY5NjQw.html

[HunanChina]

delete

[foxmulder]

Maybe CRH 420?

[hmmwv]

I think we've seen that new design before, not sure they are still doing a CRH420 considering all the slowing downs, but may be a successor to 350km/h certified CRH2s.

[Nozumi 300]

Since we're talking about the design of the CRH420, is there any new info on the status of the CRH380D?

[Sopomon]

Originally Posted by hmmwv

I think we've seen that new design before, not sure they are still doing a CRH420 considering all the slowing downs, but may be a successor to 350km/h certified CRH2s.

Yes, I too have seen it before, though it's good to see such a nice design (hopefully) coming out.

I doubt it'll see service much above 350, as hmmwv said, due to slowdowns etc

[HunanChina]

a propaganda film of CRH, not too bad.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzI0MDg4ODM2.html

[Silver Swordsman]

^Excellent video there.

[foxmulder]

They could have shoot a real one... I hope they are shooting documentaries about this huge build up. Does anyone know what National Geographic or Discovery have been doing?

[HunanChina]

nice, overlook in the air.

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzEwMzQ0NzEy.html

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzEzMDIzOTM2.html

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzA5NTMxODMy.html

[HunanChina]

a small CRH station, but nice. isn't it?

http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMjgzNzA2NjIw.html