CHINA | Railways

[hkskyline]

Central China industrial city to build subway next year
24 November 2005
Xinhua's China Economic Information Service

WUHAN, November 24 (CEIS) -- Construction on two subway projects is expected to begin next year in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province.

The two railway lines, one about 27 km long and the other about 16 km, will both include tunnels across the Yangtze River, which will greatly alleviate the traffic load on the existing bridges.

Located at the juncture of the Yangtze River and Han Rivers, the city is segmented into three towns and traffic relies heavily on the aboveground transportation networks.

Wuhan has more than 640,000 motor vehicles in the main urban area, or 99.6 automobiles per 1, 000 people, a rate three times higher than the national average, which has become a heavy burden for Wuhan's two major bridges above the Yangtze River.

The city put a light-track system into operation last year. Moreover, a 70-km subway plan has been mapped out with a total investment of 26 billion yuan (some 3.2 billion US dollars) to help ease the transportation bottleneck.

The first two subway projects have been approved by the National Development and Reform Commission and are now open for investments from both at home and abroad, said Miao Yu, Wuhan city committee CPC Secretary.

With a population of over 8 million, Wuhan is the center of five railway tentacles, six expressways, and several highways. The city serves as the gateway to China's hinterlands and is nicknamed the "thoroughfare to nine provinces".

[hkskyline]

World's fastest subway car to debut in South China city
22 November 2005
Xinhua's China Economic Information Service

GUANGZHOU, November 22 (CEIS) -- Three high-speed subway cars at 120 km per hour, the fastest ever in the world, are expected to be in service next month in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

Sources from Guangzhou Metro Corp. (GMC) said that the three new cars just got off the production line last week and are expected to debut on the first section of the newly-built metro line 3 in Guangzhou which is to operate on December 26.

A joint product of China's electric locomotive power -- China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry (Group) Corporation (CSR) and Germany's Siemens AG, the new car is specially designed for Guangzhou's metro lines, said the GMC.

According to the GMC, each subway car will have only three compartments at the earlier operation period with a total length of 60 meters, which is capable to seat 675 passengers. Each compartment will have six public information screens.

The speed of these cars will reach 80 km per hour during the trial operation period and then to hit 120 km per hour after adjustment, said the GMC.

Guangzhou is busy this year in construction of seven new subways in addition to its original two. By 2010, the subway network in Guangzhou will be about 255 km long.

[Monkey]

^ Impressive!

[hkskyline]

Shenyang Subway Line 1 Begins Construction
25 November 2005
China Industry Daily News

The Shenyang city's Subway Line 1 Project began construction on November 18th, the Xinhua website reported on Tuesday. The project is carried out by the China Rail 9 Group and China Tiesiju Civil Engineering Group Co. Ltd, which are under China Railway Engineering Corporation.

The 22.05-kilometer Subway Line 1 has a total investment of 9.48 billion yuan. It starts from the Shenyang Economic Development Area, ends at the Liming Cultural Palace, passing the Shenyang Economic Development Area, Yuhong District, Tiexi District, Heping District, Shenhe District and Dadong District. The Subway Line 1 has 18 states, with maximum speed of 80 Km/h and average speed of 35 Km/h.

The project will last for 54 months, and will be put into use in May 2010. Daily delivery capacity is expected to reach more than 300,000 passengers.

[hkskyline]

Construction of rail route linking to Shanghai World Expo venue underway

SHANGHAI, Nov. 28 (Xinhua) -- Construction of the No. 7 rail line was kicked off in Shanghai, which will be linking to the venue of the 2010 World Expo.

The construction started at the Jing'an Temple station on the 35 km long rail line Friday. Upon completion by the end of 2009, the rail system will shoulder the transportation of one sixth of passenger flow to the Shanghai World Expo., or about 120,000 to 150,000 people in 2010.

There will be 28 stations along the rail line. Twenty-six subway trains are designed to work on the route offering shuttle transportation at an interval of three minutes.

The east China metropolis, with a population of nearly 14 million, is undertaking eight urban rail projects, which will add 389 km-long metro and light-rail lines by 2012.

[hkskyline]

Rail passenger transportation exceeds one billion
28 November 2005
Xinhua's China Economic Information Service

BEIJING, November 28 (CEIS) – By November 21, Chinese railway had transported over one billion passengers, the best performance ever reported since 1990, sources of the Ministry of Railway disclosed.

In the 10-day Golden week in May Day this year, Chinese railway transported 38.577 million passengers, 2.126 million more than in the same period of 2004. While the passenger transportation in the 10-day Golden Week in the National Day came to 38.442 million, an increase of 1.842 million. On October 1, the number of passenger transported reached 4.549 million, the highest since the founding of the People’ s Republic of China.

By November 23, Chinese railway had transported 1.006 billion passengers, 29.06 million more or up 3 percent year on year; the average daily passenger transport was 3.075 million, an increase of 98,000 or up 3.3 percent.

[hkskyline]

China railway will carry 143.9 mln passengers during traditional holiday
2 December 2005
Xinhua's China Economic Information Service

BEIJING, December 2 (CEIS) -- With Spring Festival still two months away, China is gearing up its railway network for an expected 143.9 million passengers, up 3.1 percent from the same period last year.

China's Ministry of Railways has identified a 40-day period -- from Jan. 14 to Feb. 22 -- as the peak travel season.

Daily passenger flow is expected to reach 3.6 million, an increase of 110,000 from 2004, said the ministry.

Chinese people celebrate the Lunal New Year, or the traditional Spring Festival by returning home for an annual family re-union. Every year the nation's transportation system is pushed to its limits as millions of Chinese flock back home and then return to their jobs over a two-week holiday period.

Trains, popular for their safety record and low costs, are the first choice for the majority of the holiday travelers, including many rural migrant workers and college students.

This year, the Railway Ministry will arrange 216 temporary express trains to cope with the passenger traffic.

[sharpie20]

geez...so many stories not enough time to read

[evangelistik]

Has China decided on which railway system it would implement to connect the two cities of Beijing and Shanghai? Last I heard, they were interested in TransRapid, Alstom, and the Shinkansen.

Any news?

[Monkey]

^ According to post #40 they are going for the Japanese and German systems.

[hkskyline]

China city tramlines to reach 5,000 km
7 December 2005
Xinhua's China Economic Information Service

SHENZHEN, December 7 (CEIS) -- Twenty five Chinese cities have marked out tramline networks, totaling 5,000 km, with investment topping 800 billion yuan (about 100 billion US dollars), according to sources with the seminar on city tram traffic held in Shenzhen of south China's Guangdong Province.

Ten cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen have already set up tram traffic networks, and all of which have got finance support from the State Development Bank.

The State Development Bank has promised to offer more than 60 billion yuan (7.5 billion US dollars) in loans by November, 2005, as finance support for tram traffic construction.

Seminar participants hold that city tram traffic equipment, in the category of public facilities, produce few economic returns. Experts suggest that Chinese mainland cities can refer to the Hong Kong experience of tramline development.

The seminar was hosted by the State Development Bank and the Hong Kong metro Co.Ltd.

[hkskyline]

China's Planned Urban Rail Transit Mileage Reaches 5,000KM
9 December 2005
SinoCast China Business Daily News

BEIJING, December 09, SinoCast -- At present, 25 Chinese cities have mapped out rail traffic network plans related to totally up to 5,000 kilometers of mileage, which include the lines having been built in ten cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

And the total investment to be involved is estimated to exceed CNY 800 billion, according to a recent symposium on investment and financing pattern for China's urban rail transit construction held in southern city of Shenzhen.

China Development Bank(CDB), one of the country's policy financial institutions, has already provided financing support for urban rail traffic projects to ten cities in these years.

However, because such commonweal facility projects can hardly yield high economic benefit, the domestic investments in this field are still in a huge shortage.

For this problem, the symposium introduced the successful experience in terms of overall planning, comprehensive development and professional management of rail traffic projects well-performed by Hong Kong-based MTR Corporation Limited, who is one of a few underground railway operators in the world being able to make lucrative businesses presently.

[hkskyline]

Direct Beijing-Lhasa train available for travelers next July
12 December 2005
Xinhua's China Economic Information Service

BEIJING, December 12 (CEIS) -- It will take travelers only 48 hours by direct train trip from Beijing to Lhasa, capital of west China's Tibet Autonomous Region as of July 1 next year, a railway official said.

Travelers can enjoy the world-class tourist sites along the newly- built line during the 48-hour direct railway trip, including the Qinghai Lake," said Zhang Shuguang, director of the Transportation Bureau with China's Ministry of Railways.

The new railway line will be operational at the Beijing's West Railway Station from July 1, 2006, the official said, adding that key parts of the line, the Qinghai-Tibet Railway, had been completed on Oct. 12 this year.

Qinghai-Tibet section of the railway is the world's highest railway, the official said, adding that some 960 kilometers of the tracks were laid at 4,000 meters above sea level, with the highest parts reaching 5,072 meters.

The railway is still the world's longest plateau railroad which extends 1,956 kilometers from Qinghai's provincial capital Xining to Lhasa in Tibet. The Golmud-Lhasa section, completed on Oct. 12 this year, zigzags 1,142 kilometers across the Kunlun and Tanggula mountain ranges.

"The Beijing-Lhasa train will run at a speed of 160 km per hour on the plain, but will slow down at 120 km per hour when it reaches the Qinghai-Tibet section" Zhang said.

According to the official, the trains running on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway are the most advanced ones in China. All the carriages of the trains are installed with oxygen-supplying equipments and every passenger will be provided with an oxygen mask.

"Passengers will not feel altitude reaction or sickness," he said.

In addition to Beijing, some other Chinese cities, including Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu, will also launch direct railway passenger transportation to Lhasa as of July 1 next year, Zhang said.

[hkskyline]

China's last steam engines stop service
9 December 2005
Xinhua's China Economic Information Service

HOHHOT, December 9 (CEIS) -- China's last 27 steam engines stopped service on December 9 at Jitong Railway Section in Hexigten Banner in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Jitong Railway was built in 1995 by the Ministry of Railways and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, stretching for about 1,200 km across the prairie.

At that time, a new steam engine was priced at 300,000 yuan (37, 000 US dollars) and demanded an annual expense of 900,000 yuan (111, 000 dollars). In comparison, an internal-combustion engine cost 4 million yuan (493,800 dollars) together with an annual expense of 2.7 million yuan (333,300 dollars), said Wang Huichuan, general manager of Jitong Railway Company.

Due to limited funding and market capacity, the company chose to purchase steam engines. It owned 126 steam engines in prime time.

In the past ten years, the steam engines raked in remarkable income for the company and the annual revenue increased from 750 million yuan (92.59 million dollars) to 1 billion yuan (123.46 million dollars), Wang said.

Steam engines, born about 180 years ago, were regarded as important symbols of modern industrialization, but they were inevitably substituted by internal-combustion engines with modern technology development, said Su Nan, deputy board chairman of Jitong Railway Company.

China's last steam engines were produced in 1986 with 20 years of service term. The retired engines will be used in tourism in the following three years, according to the company.

[zergcerebrates]

Originally Posted by hkskyline

World's fastest subway car to debut in South China city
22 November 2005
Xinhua's China Economic Information Service

GUANGZHOU, November 22 (CEIS) -- Three high-speed subway cars at 120 km per hour, the fastest ever in the world, are expected to be in service next month in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province.

Sources from Guangzhou Metro Corp. (GMC) said that the three new cars just got off the production line last week and are expected to debut on the first section of the newly-built metro line 3 in Guangzhou which is to operate on December 26.

A joint product of China's electric locomotive power -- China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry (Group) Corporation (CSR) and Germany's Siemens AG, the new car is specially designed for Guangzhou's metro lines, said the GMC.

According to the GMC, each subway car will have only three compartments at the earlier operation period with a total length of 60 meters, which is capable to seat 675 passengers. Each compartment will have six public information screens.

The speed of these cars will reach 80 km per hour during the trial operation period and then to hit 120 km per hour after adjustment, said the GMC.

Guangzhou is busy this year in construction of seven new subways in addition to its original two. By 2010, the subway network in Guangzhou will be about 255 km long.

By 2010 will they have more length than that of HK metro? I really have no clue the overall length of HK's network.

[philip]

Originally Posted by hkskyline

According to the official, the trains running on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway are the most advanced ones in China. All the carriages of the trains are installed with oxygen-supplying equipments and every passenger will be provided with an oxygen mask. .

That is so wicked COOL !!!

[hkskyline]

Guangzhou Subway Fares Set to Drop
By Zheng Caixiong
13 December 2005
China Daily

GUANGZHOU: Subway fares could be cut in the Guangdong provincial capital in the coming months.

Guangzhou Municipal Price Bureau held a public meeting yesterday morning to discuss prices for the metro service in Guangzhou.

Proposals that would favour people travelling longer distances were agreed, according to Lan Lan, an official with Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Price.

Guangzhou Metro Corporation had offered three proposals for its shake-up of fares earlier this year amid growing calls from residents to cut the price of tickets. All three plans would offer cheaper prices overall to their underground passengers.

The preferred third option still has to wait for final approval from Guangzhou municipal government, Lan told China Daily yesterday.

She said her bureau transferred the result of the hearing to upper authorities for final review and approval after yesterday' meeting.

According to the third plan, metro passengers will pay an initial 2 yuan (US$25 cents) within 4 kilometres and increase 1 yuan (US$12 cents) for every 4 kilometres after that.

Fares will increase by 1 yuan (US$12 cents) for every 6 kilometres after travelling 12 kilometres, and 1 yuan (US$12 cents) for every 8 kilometres after 24 kilometres.

"That indicates the longer distance passengers will take, the more preferential prices will be given to them after the new plan is introduced in the future," Lan said.

Under the new system, passengers will pay only 5 yuan (US$62 cents) to complete the current 13-station Metro Line One a 1 yuan (US$12 cents) reduction from the current fare.

Guangzhou Metro Line began in 1997 and runs from Fangcun District in the western part of the city, crossing the Pearl River, to end in Guangzhou Tianhe Railway Station.

More than 100 government officials, experts and local residents' representatives attended the hearing yesterday. They included Shen Zhichao, director of Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Price and the senior executives from Guangzhou Metro Corporation.

Many local residents yesterday praised the proposed cuts.

Wu Shanyin, a housewife, said Guangzhou's metro fares could be reduced because they have been higher than those in Beijing and Shanghai.

"The monthly income of Guangzhou residents has not been more than their friends and relatives in Beijing and Shanghai," Wu told China Daily.

Hu Zhaoguang, an office worker, said the price reduction would benefit both the metro company and passengers.

He hoped the metro system would further improve after the fare cuts.

Hu, 39, who works in a foreign-funded company, mainly uses the underground to reach his office in Tianhe District, a new business centre in Guangzhou.

One executive at Guangzhou Metro Corportation, who refused to be named, said profits would not be hit by the reduction as more passengers would be encouraged to use the subway.

There are currently two metro lines in Guangzhou.

Metro Line Two, which started service in 2002 and runs from the south to north, connects with the Metro Line One that operates from east to west in Gongyuanqian.

The city's metro service attracts more than 1.5 million passengers every year.

Guangzhou municipal government plans to construct up to seven metro lines to form a comprehensive underground network in the coming years to try to reduce congestion on the roads.

It would see the total length of the city's metro tracks reach more than 500 kilometres.

[hkskyline]

Beijing-Shanghai Railway ready for speed-raise shortening trip to 7 hours
13 December 2005
Xinhua's China Economic Information Service

BEIJING, December 13 (CEIS) -- Beijing railway authority said here on December 13 that it has finished the renovation of the Beijing-Shanghai railway and got ready for next year's speed raise.

Sources from the No. 6 Bureau of the China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) that the tacks of 200-kilometer Beijing section of the Beijing-Shanghai railway has all been replaced by Tuesday morning, increasing the speed to 200 kilometers per hour from 160 kilometers per hour.

China plans to launch its sixth speed-raise in national railways in 2006, a marked step to increase its transport capacity in the railway sector.

Renovation of the 1462-km Beijing-Shanghai railway, one of the busiest in China, was started in May this year, with most switches and tracks replaced to meet the demand for accelerated speed trains.

The CREC said the new round speed raise next year will shorten the trip from Beijing to Shanghai from the current 13.5 hours to 7 hours.

[mopc]

I especially liked that Beijing-Lhasa train!!! What a journey that must be!

[hkskyline]

MTR Expected to Participate in Wuhan Subway Operation
21 December 2005

WUHAN, December 21, SinoCast -- Wuhan, the capital of Hubei, Central China, wants to invite Hong Kong's subway operator Mass Transit Railway Corp. (MTR)to participate in investment, construction and operation of Wuhan Subway as the first phase project of the No.1 Line of Wuhan Railway Traffic has to suffer a huge loss of CNY 350,000.

Wuhan completed construction of Phase I project of the No.1 Line of the light rail with a total length of 10 kilometers in July 2004 and planned to reach daily passenger throughput of 210,000 people time.

However, daily passenger throughput reaches just more than 10,000 people time every day. Total costs on operation of Phase I project of the No.1 Line of the light rail are approximately CNY 550,000. Phase II project of the No.1 Line of the light rail started construction on December 15, 2005.

MTR, the world's only profitable subway operator, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Wuhan Municipal Government this May and has spent CNY 15 million on early-stage market research.

The Wuhan subway project, with a total investment of more than CNY 26 billion, has been agreed by the State Development and Reform Commission, China's macro-economy regulator, and is now waiting for the approval from the State Council, the country's cabinet.

Yin Zengtao, vice secretary of Wuhan Municipal Committee, told journalists that No.2 Line of the Wuhan Subway through the Yangtze River would start construction firstly.

Wuhan obtained fiscal revenues of over CNY 30 billion in 2004 and its fiscal revenues cannot support subway construction. Demands for investments in urban infrastructure construction sharply rise in recent years. Investments in urban infrastructure construction reached CNY 3.8 billion in 2003 and CNY 10 billion in 2004 and are expected to arrive at CNY 1.3 billion.

The city started construction of more than 400 projects in 2004 and investments in the Tianxingzhou Bridge and cross-river tunnels hit over CNY 1 billion.

China's subway construction is now in full swing. The Chinese government plans to build 5000-kilometer subway lines with total investments of more than CNY 800 billion in 25 cities.

Currently, ten cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen own already-built subways throughout the country. China Development Bank has extended loans to domestic cities to support their subway construction. The bank has promised to provide loans of more than CNY 60 billion and had extended loans of over CNY 40 billion by the end of this November.

Urban railway traffic such as light rail vehicles is commonweal facilities not intended to earn money and needs huge investments. Industry analysts suggested that domestic subway construction should learn from Hong Kong subway construction and operation.

MTR reached an agreement on January 15, 2004 to build and operate Shenzhen Phase II of the No.4 Line for 30 years. The 20.5-kilometer No.4 Line will run from Huanggang, on the boundary between Hong Kong and Shenzhen, to the center of Longhua New Town.

The test segment of the second phase project of Shenzhen Subway No.4 Line started construction on November 4, 2005. The No.4 Line is a north-to-south line with 15 stations will be a main route between Hong Kong and Shenzhen in the future. MTR makes a total investment of CNY 6 billion in the Phase II project.

(USD 1 = CNY 8.0730)