Chinese high-speed trains have overtaken the whole world. high speed trains in china

"Do you want a boo? Inexpensive." I asked Viti when we were planning our autumn trip to China. It was a rhetorical question. I knew that Vitya never mind shushing, especially inexpensive ones. More specifically, we had to buy a ticket for a high-speed train from to, and I offered to take a ride in business class in order to briefly experience all the delights of Chinese railway luxury.

As I expected, Victor immediately agreed. Fortunately, such a ticket was not very expensive:

The distance between the two cities is about 400 km, which is a good four hours by car, but the high-speed train covers the distance in about one and a half. At the same time, a ticket in the second class costs about $25, in the first class - $40, and in the business class - $80! Yes, in Chinese trains, business class is considered better than the first, unlike most airlines,)!

12. And here is the railway business class seat. There's plenty of legroom, and nice red leather (or some similar synthetic).

13. There are only five seats in the business lounge: there are three seats in the first row, and only two in the second. There are pockets in the backs of the chairs, although it is absolutely impossible to reach them without getting up.

14. So let's go!

15. It's time to explore what the railway company pampers its best passengers with. Each of us is given two pairs of slippers! It seems like another attempt at imitation. Perhaps the Japanese love slippers about the same as the Chinese love all sorts of fences and fences.

16. A table is pulled out of the arm of the chair, and a small tablet lies in the pocket at the feet of the seat. It seems like a TV.

17. True, it immediately turned out that there is also a TV. Both devices were completely in Chinese, and I was never able to do anything useful with them. But we must give them their due, they already provided me with about ten minutes of entertainment.

18. It seems that they really mow down here for an airline - at least the conductor is dressed just like flight attendants on airplanes! And the cart also looks like something bought from a Boeing. True, alcohol is not distributed here, I had to be content with tea.

19. Each passenger in the business lounge was given just such a box with gifts.

20. Inside are cookies, candies, and other sweets. As for me, they could pick up something more refined, yet this is BUSINESS CLASS!

21. The most important quality of any seat in the business is the ability to turn into a fully flat bunk. And here, I must say, the Chinese did not disappoint. He pressed the button, and the seat slowly leans back and moves away with a buzzing sound.

22. While I was photographing and checking all this, Vitya had already fallen asleep, and he had a third dream. Lucky for those who can immediately pass out like that! He slept most of the hour and a half on the road.

23. This door leads to the ordinary part of the train, where commoner losers ride. Above it is a board with speed and air temperature. As well as an indicator of whether the toilet is free. Yes, unfortunately the toilet has to be shared with those first class plebs.

This is the railroad business. Of course it's not worth that kind of money. What do you think?

In our opinion, the train is the best means of transportation in China. It's clean and pleasant for the most part. They go every day, with very rare exceptions. It is quite comfortable to be at the stations, and the employees of the railway are neatly dressed and friendly, however, like all Chinese. In addition, the train is a great way to get to know the country from the inside, just looking out the window at the passing landscapes, or talking to people. We were amazed at the sociability of the Chinese! Chinese trains are of different types, seats can also be of different comfort. And now in more detail. This information will be useful to you when planning an independent trip to China.

Categories of Chinese trains

1. Type G trains — 高速 “G” Trains (High-Speed)

The fastest and fastest trains with the fewest stops, the most expensive. There are only seats here. And what's the point of doing recumbent, if it's only 5 hours to go?)) They accelerate to 350 km / h and more. For example, the distance Beijing-Shanghai such a train flies in 5 and a half hours and costs in this message from 550 yuan. The fastest train in the world - the Shanghai Maglev, accelerated to 486 km / h!

2. Type C and D trains — 城际“C” Trains (Inter-City)动 “D” Trains

Type C train

Also very fast. They have slightly more stops and are slightly slower than Type G trains. They have both lying and sitting places. For example, the train travels the same distance Beijing-Shanghai in 8-9 hours and costs from 408 yuan.

3. Type Z trains — 直达 “Z” Trains (Direct)

Type Z train

High-speed trains connecting Beijing with other major cities in the country. These trains are usually overnight and run non-stop. There are different places: seated, reserved seat, coupe. The Beijing-Xi'an distance travels in 11 hours and costs from 275 yuan.

4. Type T trains — 特快 “T” Trains (Express)

T-type train

Also regular trains. There are all types of places. Xi'an-Urumqi (2500 km) arrives in a little more than a day and costs from 280 yuan. These trains run all over the country.

5. Type K trains — 快 "K" Trains (Fast)

Type K train

Those are the ones we went to. They go a little slower than T-type trains. Usually the cars are red. There are also all types of places. Xian-Urumqi (2500 km) overcomes in a day and 10 hours and costs from 273 yuan. Late, sometimes by 10 minutes, sometimes by an hour….

6. No letter prefix — No Prefix (Common)

Trains with numbers without letter prefix

The slowest and therefore the cheapest type of train in China. But it is quite possible to go, as there is everything you need for your stay.

Types of carriages in Chinese trains

There are 4 types (classes) of wagons:

1. hard seat- an analogue of the Russian train, that is, ordinary seats. Can shake the psyche of stress-resistant people. But ... it depends on how you treat it. If you like comfort, then ride in higher class carriages. The trick is that when the seats run out, at the box office they start selling tickets without a seat, i.e. standing. Our friend took such a ticket, and he has 2 days to go! But nothing, he returned alive and well))

Schematic map of Chinese railways

And finally, a little video about the new highway connecting Beijing and Guangzhou. It's already built!

We hope this article was helpful! If you have any questions, ask, we will try to answer.

Look around China and beyond.

The well-known principle "time is money" for business today is more relevant than ever. In order to be in time for everything and not be late anywhere, humanity invents new ways of transportation. One of them was the high-speed rail lines (HSR), which over the past 20 years have won the hearts and wallets of millions of passengers around the world.

In China, Japan and Europe, trains that cover 300-350 km in just an hour successfully compete with airplanes. The Celestial Empire, with fanatical zeal, mastering a new type of transport, has outstripped its closest competitors in terms of the length of the high-speed rail for many years to come.

Only in 2010-2012. The Chinese government and state-owned banks allocated about $355 billion for the development of railways, a significant part of which went to expand the network of high-speed highways. This year, China is investing another $104 billion in railways. In Russia, the creation of a high-speed railway is still only being considered, "accelerating" trains along Soviet-built railway tracks.

Japan and China "stole" the dream of Europeans

Engineers and designers have been trying to create fast trains since the advent of rail transport. The first officially recorded speed record on the railway - 210 km per hour - was set in the suburbs of Berlin in 1903, even before the first plane took to the skies.

However, the long-standing dream of Europeans about super-fast trains was destined to come true 60 years later on the other side of the world. In 1964 Japan launched the world's first public high-speed rail (HSR) Shinkansen between Tokyo and Osaka, which now carries more than 150 million passengers annually. It is curious that for half a century of operation of the line, not a single catastrophe has occurred on it.

Over the past 10 years, China has made a huge breakthrough in the development of high-speed rail (or as they are also called high-speed rail), leaving far behind the closest competitors from Europe and Asia. If in the mid-1990s in the Celestial Empire trains were dragging at an average speed of 50 km / h, then at the beginning of the 2000s it increased to 200 km / h.

By the beginning of 2013 the Chinese have built and upgraded more than 8,500 km of rail tracks for high-speed and high-speed trains. In December last year, China opened the world's longest and one of the "fastest" railway lines from Beijing to Guangzhou. On it, trains cover a distance of almost 2,300 km in just eight hours, accelerating to 350 km/h.

Such projects require considerable financial injections from the state. In 2010 The Chinese authorities allocated a record 800 billion yuan ($129 billion) to the development of the railway network in 2011-2012. another $226 billion was invested. Plan for 2013 - about 104 billion dollars. By 2015. the Chinese expect to increase the total length of the railway network to 120,000 km, including 18,000 km of high-speed lines.

Having "tested" the technology of high-speed lines, China announced its planned expansion into the markets of Southeast Asia and the Middle East. At present, high-speed railway construction projects are being discussed, which will connect China with Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and even the UK (Beijing-London line). The Chinese are ready to build a network of high-speed highways to India and Europe, and at half the price of the Germans, or almost half the price of the Koreans.

High-speed trains outpaced planes

Europe is actively catching up with its Asian neighbors by creating a unified HSR network, coordinating the actions of railway operators and creating real competition for airlines at distances of 600-800 km.

Pioneers in the development of high-speed highways in this part of the world were Italy and France with their famous Pendolino and TGV trains. Since the opening of the first HSR from Paris to Lyon in 1981. TGV trains have repeatedly beaten their own speed records, overcoming a fantastic figure for land transport of 570 km/h.

The example of the French was followed by the Germans and Spaniards, and in 1994. A high-speed line was launched through the Channel Tunnel, connecting the capitals of France and England. After its opening, the number of flights between Paris and London has decreased significantly.

Today, the total length of high-speed railways and the volume of passenger traffic on them around the world are growing at a record pace. According to the forecasts of the International Union of Railways, by 2014. the length of the HSR network will increase from the current 17,000 to 27,000 km.

We'll go the other way

In Russia, the project of high-speed railways was developed back in the 70s of the last century, in the late 1980s a program for the development of high-speed railways was adopted. However, in the 90s, for obvious reasons, they safely forgot about it. It was only at the beginning of the 21st century that the idea of high-speed rail traffic was realized in our country.

They did not build separate railway lines for the high-speed lines as they did abroad, instead, high-speed trains bought from the German Siemens and the French Alstom were launched on the existing infrastructure. In 2009 Between the two capitals - Moscow and St. Petersburg - "Peregrine Falcons" began to run at a speed of up to 200 km / h, they also connected the Mother See with Nizhny Novgorod. High-speed trains "Allegro" carry passengers to Helsinki from the Northern capital of the Russian Federation, and in January 2013. from St. Petersburg to Veliky Novgorod and Bologoye, the Lastochka trains were launched.

0 20px 0 25px;"> "Sapsan" and "Allegro" in 2012 carried 3.5 million passengers. In total, since December 2009, when they were launched, there have been more than 9 million passengers. The average load of these high-speed trains is over 80%. Sapsan and Allegro carry passengers at speeds up to 200 km/h. The average speed of long-distance trains of the Federal Passenger Company today does not exceed 60 km/h.

Today, three main directions for the development of high-speed lines in Russia with speeds up to 350 km/h are considered. This is the already tested route Moscow - Petersburg, as well as the lines Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod - Kazan - Yekaterinburg and Moscow - Rostov-on-Don - Adler.

According to the first vice-president of JSC "" Alexander Misharin (heads the company supervising the project "High-Speed Lines"), Moscow-Kazan will most likely become the pilot direction for the construction of high-speed lines.

"It is more expedient (to build a branch. - Note RBC) to the East, since there is a prospect for development - to extend it to Yekaterinburg with the connection of Perm, Chelyabinsk and Ufa. Geopolitics is already appearing there, access to China," the top manager of Russian Railways explained.

The Institute for Natural Monopoly Problems (IPEM) emphasizes that the rapid development of high-speed rail passenger transportation in France, Germany, Japan and China is supported and subsidized by the government.

"In Russia, as in the United States, for example, there is no clear position of the state regarding the transportation of passengers by high-speed lines. However, in the United States, unlike the Russian Federation, there is no urgent need for rail passenger transportation, since small aviation and bus service are quite developed" , - says IPEM expert Lev Ruzavin.

In his opinion, in our country "regional aviation is in decline, and transportation by buses is carried out by many private companies, over which it is impossible to establish control and provide the required level of security."

Alexander Volobuev, RBC

China has the world's largest high-speed rail network with a total length of over 7,055 km, including a 1,995 km section where train speeds exceed 350 km/h. China is currently experiencing a boom in high-speed rail construction. With government support and special incentive measures, the total length of the high-speed rail network is expected to reach 13,000 km by 2012 and 16,000 km by 2020.

Even 20 years ago, the average speed of passenger trains in China was 48 km/h and continued to decline. And today we Rustem got to Shanghai from Wuxi (140 km) in 40 minutes.

01. Station in the city of Wuxi. Most S-Bahn stations look like this.

02. Login.

03. To buy a ticket, you must have an identity card. It was not possible to buy a ticket in vending machines with a Russian passport, I had to go to the box office.

04. The cost of a ticket to Shanghai (140 km) in a business class car is only 450 rubles. If my memory serves me right, in Russia this is how much an ordinary train costs. A high-speed Sapsan will cost 4 times more.

05. Mandatory baggage screening at the entrance to the waiting room.

06. Most importantly, you can film at Chinese railway stations! For all the time no one came up and made a remark, although I filmed everything and did not hide.

07. By 1993, the average speed of passenger trains in China was 48 km/h and continued to decline. Rail transport was losing its attractiveness for passengers, yielding in popularity to air travel and road transport. With this in mind, the Ministry of Railway Transport of China has developed a strategy to increase the speed of trains through the construction of new high-speed lines. Today, China leads the world in terms of the length of high-speed roads.

08. High-speed trains run between almost all major cities, and soon they will completely replace old electric trains.

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11. Descent to the platform just before the train arrives on a ticket.

12. The stations are very spacious and airy.

13. And for comparison, this is an exit to a regular platform where old trains run. Everything is like ours.

14. The train arrived. In technological terms, the organization of high-speed rail communication occurs through technology transfer agreements from proven foreign manufacturers such as Bombardier, Alstom, and Kawasaki. By adopting foreign technologies, China seeks to make its own developments based on them. For example, the CRH-380 train that arrived at our platform was made in China in 2010. It develops speed up to 350 km per hour.