The high-speed train is one of the most popular modes of transport in China. High speed of movement helps to significantly save travel time between cities. The price policy for high-speed trains in China is much lower than in other countries. If in 2008 high-speed lines in China accounted for only 6% of trips, then in 2013 - 79%.
Today, high-speed rail lines have covered all of China. The high-speed network in China is the largest in the world and occupies 66.7% of the world's high-speed railway network. It covers all major cities, as well as stations of small towns along the train route. High-speed railways compete with road transport and air transport, especially at medium distances of 300–800 km.
In China, the development of high-speed rail communication is developing at a rapid pace, despite the lack of payback. High-speed communication helps to connect all regions of a huge country with each other in a short time availability. The construction of high-speed railways helps to solve social problems and labor migration problems in China.
This type of transport is relevant for travelers who want to visit several major cities at once and save time. For example, from Shanghai to Beijing by high-speed train can be reached in just 5 hours at an average speed of 330 km/h.
Photo: Ed Jones/AFP/Getty Images
There is a lot of talk about the safety of highways in China. “The laying of such railways abroad takes a long time, they cannot be used immediately. After laying, they must settle down, reach a stable state, and only then can they be exploited. And in these two years, we have a real “Great Leap Forward” in the field of high-speed trains. Everything is done in a hurry, the deadlines for work are being reduced, the work is done mainly by migrant workers from the villages, and here you need to have a fairly high qualification,” Feng Pei'en said earlier.
high speed communication
Most often, high-speed rail is used to travel 200–500 km within a 2–4 hour reach. The speed of modern trains exceeds 350 km/h, and in some sections it can reach 486 km/h, as, for example, on the Beijing-Shanghai highway.
High-speed lines according to the speed of trains are divided into:
On high-speed highways, as a rule, there is no freight traffic. There are isolated cases of light cargo transportation, for example, mail and parcels.
The fastest train in the world on rails in 2007 was the train of the French National Railway. On a demonstration run from Paris to Strasbourg, the train accelerated to 575 km / h. On this line, only daytime passenger train services are carried out.
On May 3, China announced the development of a train that can reach a cruising speed of 400 km/h. Trains will run at this speed on most routes, speeding up to 470 km/h in some sections. The first such trains will be presented to the public in 2020, according to the China Railway Corporation.
A high-speed train in Anshun, southwest China's Guizhou province, March 16, 2017. Photo: STR/AFP/Getty Images
Currently, the cruising speed of trains is generally limited to 350 km/h. The Chinese will achieve an increase in speed, including with the help of lighter materials.
How did high-speed rail traffic develop in the world?
The history of high-speed rail began in the 1970s in Japan, which remained a leader in the field of high-speed lines until the 21st century. The Japanese found that when installing a special canvas and more powerful engines, the train can reach speeds of up to 270 km / h. So on the Tokyo-Osaka line, travel time was reduced from 6 hours 40 minutes to 2 hours 25 minutes. The railway communication, which has already lost its former popularity in the world, has again become competitive.
By the end of the 20th century, the experience of Japan was adopted by 5 more countries: Italy, Spain, France, Germany and Belgium. By the beginning of the 21st century, the speed of trains had already increased to 380 km/h.
At the beginning of the century, the construction of high-speed networks in China began. Despite the fact that China began to build high-speed rail lines later than other countries, in just 10 years the country was able to become a world leader. The peak of the development of high-speed lines in the PRC occurred in the period 2010–2012, when the government allocated about $355 billion for the development of railways.
If in 2008 almost all high-speed trains were purchased in Japan, Germany and France, then by 2011 China had already established its own production based on these samples. Now Chinese factories produce hundreds of their trains every year, some of which are exported.
According to the plans of the PRC, by 2020 the length of high-speed railway lines in China will reach 30,000 kilometers, covering all cities with a population of 500,000 or more.
The creators of the idea of high-speed construction - the Japanese, gave way to China in the world rankings. By the end of 2016, Japan's share of the global high-speed rail network had dropped from 47% (in 2000) to 8%. In Europe, until 2010, France was in the lead, and then it was overtaken by Spain, which came close to 3rd place in the world after China and Japan.
China plans to sponsor high-speed roads in Russia
The Russian high-speed rail development strategy includes the Moscow-Kazan route, which could eventually extend to Yekaterinburg and then through Kazakhstan to Beijing, becoming the new Silk Road. The Moscow-Beijing project is designed to be implemented over a period of 8-10 years. From one capital to another, a high-speed train will be able to cover 7,000 km in 2 days. On Russian territory, this road will connect the central region, the Volga region and the Urals.
The first high-speed Allegro train in St. Petersburg. Photo: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images
The construction of high-speed lines and all related infrastructure requires huge financial investments. The PRC can provide loans to Russia for construction if Chinese technologies are used. China intends to invest more than 400 billion rubles in the project.
The construction of the Moscow-Kazan strategic line, 770 km long, according to preliminary estimates, will cost 1.068 trillion rubles. At a maximum speed of up to 400 km / h, the travel time should be no more than 3.5 hours. Now this journey by train takes 11.5 hours.
The project is described in the program for the development of high-speed railway communication in Russia until 2020. The start of construction is expected to begin in 2017, and in 2020 the first high-speed train should run along the highway. The operation of the highway is scheduled for 2021. This will be the first specialized railway in Russia for the movement of trains at speeds from 200 to 400 km/h.
China announced the development of a high-speed train for the Moscow-Kazan route, which is scheduled to be tested in 2018. The train will be designed to operate in temperatures down to -50 degrees Celsius. During testing, the functioning of all elements of the composition at low temperatures will be checked. The train will have 12 carriages designed for 720 passengers. It will move at a speed of 360 km/h.
Experts note that the impact of this project on the country's economy will be huge. The mobility of the population will increase, communication between regions will be strengthened, existing railway lines will be unloaded and the speed of freight trains will increase. Fast and comfortable movement of people will lead to an increase in the quality of life of the population and the development of domestic tourism.
Currently, high-speed trains in Russia operate on three routes: Moscow - St. Petersburg, Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod, St. Petersburg - Helsinki, with a total length of 1500 km. High-speed trains on Russian roads can reach a maximum speed of up to 250 km/h.
Studies have shown that due to the unification of large cities in the European part of Russia with a single high-speed network, it becomes possible to reduce the number of flights between these cities and transfer them to service between the European and Asian parts of the country, thereby increasing the mobility of the population.
High-speed rail service in Russia began in 2009 and has a prehistory in the form of a limitedly organized high-speed service in the USSR. Initially, high-speed rail service was launched using the reconstructed existing railroad tracks, and then the creation of a national system high-speed traffic (HSTS) was started on the basis of newly constructed high-speed railways (HSR).
First VSNT projects
As one of the alternative possibilities for high-speed rail traffic and for practicing high speeds on railway tracks, in the 1970s, a prototype wagon, a jet train, was tested, which did not have motor traction of wheelset bogies.
As the first stage, in parallel, by 1973, a project was developed and partially implemented to transfer the Moscow-Leningrad sections of the Oktyabrskaya railway to high speeds. Since 1984, a high-speed electric train ER-200 has been launched with low intensity on this partially reconstructed railway.
In 2015, the design of Russia's first high-speed highway HSR Moscow - Kazan began. Estimated design time - 2 years, construction - 5 years.
The high-speed railway puts forward special requirements for the quality of the trackbed, the characteristics of trains, the organization of the schedule and, of course, engineering solutions. And the presence of modern high-speed railway lines in the transport system of the state is a kind of quality mark.
High-speed highways in the Russian Federation
In our country, there are still few high-speed highways (HSR), but their number is gradually increasing. In May 2013, the government announced its intention to build 4,000 km of high-speed railways by 2030.
The most “deserved” HSR in Russia is the route between Moscow and the northern capital, along which the Sapsan train runs. In addition, high-speed trains run between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod (Strizh) and between the capital and Kursk (Lastochka).
However, domestic high-speed railways cannot yet be called high-speed lines proper. The high speed of following is achieved due to the characteristics of the rolling stock. At the same time, the trains plying in these directions are technically able to reach their destination much faster, however, since they run along the old tracks common with conventional trains, the maximum speed for the Moscow - St. Petersburg direction is limited to a very modest 200 km / h, and directions Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow - Kursk - even 160 km / h.
The government is trying to remedy the situation by building new highways. The most ambitious project in this area is the laying of a highway between Moscow and Kazan, which is intended to be the first stage of the Moscow-Yekaterinburg high-speed line. In addition, there is a project to build a new Moscow-Adler railway. In June 2015, it was reported that the design of the new Moscow-Kazan railway would take two years, and construction would take five.
It is assumed that the allocated high-speed lines can reduce travel time by several times: for example, from Moscow to Kazan it will be possible to get in 3.5 hours (currently 14 hours), from Nizhny Novgorod to Kazan - in just 1.5 hours (currently 10 hours), and a trip to Yekaterinburg will require no more than 8-12 hours. On modern tracks, trains will be able to reach speeds of up to 350-400 km/h. However, time will tell whether the projects for the construction of high-speed lines to the south of Russia and the Urals will be implemented. In any case, the construction of a dedicated Moscow-St. Petersburg high-speed railway planned for 2013 has been postponed for an indefinite period.
"Sapsan"
The Moscow-Petersburg high-speed railway line began operating at the end of 2009. The rolling stock is designed and manufactured by the German concern Siemens, which also provides warranty service and repair of trains. According to the characteristics, the Velaro RUS model, which is supplied to the Russian Federation, is similar to the trains manufactured for Germany and Spain, with the difference that the trains for our country are not afraid of frost (up to -50 ˚С) and are adapted in width to the domestic rolling stock standard.
Although the train is capable of accelerating up to 330 km/h, on the Moscow-Petersburg route its maximum speed does not exceed 250 km/h, and it travels no faster than 200 km/h for the main part of the journey. Nevertheless, the launch of the train made it possible to significantly reduce the travel time from Moscow to St. Petersburg. If earlier the travel time exceeded 8 hours, then the Sapsan flies the same distance in less than 4 hours.
Initially, two pairs of trains ran between Moscow and St. Petersburg. In 2010, their number increased to five, and now the Sapsan train departs from one capital to another 13-15 times a day, and since the summer of 2014, twin trains have been running along the line.
The trains have seats of the 1st class, business class, as well as two budget classes - economy and "economy +". Salons of the 1st class are the most comfortable - the seats in them have a folding adjustable design and a built-in entertainment system. In carriages of the 1st and business class, meals are included in the ticket price. "Economy +" differs from the usual "economy" in the increased distance between the seats. A restaurant car and mobile bars are at the service of passengers.
The maximum number of seats is 554 for regular and 1108 for doubles. In the fall of 2016, Sapsan carried a record number of passengers for Russian high-speed lines - 17,830 per day.
An interesting feature of the "Sapsan" is the presence of a "children's coupe". Facilities for children are in the last car - there is a place for a cradle, special chairs for children with and without parents, a carpet for games, books and even a TV.
Each Sapsan car is equipped with a toilet, air conditioning, noise insulation, a rack for storing luggage and placing clothes, an electronic scoreboard that displays information about speed, weather conditions, etc. There are TVs in the cars, and personal headphones are provided to listen to audio information.
"Swift"
The high-speed line between Moscow and Nizhny Novgorod was opened in 2010. Initially, Sapsan trains (EVS2) were put on the route, but in 2015 they gave way to the Spanish Talgo trains. Today, their maximum speed in some areas is 180 km / h, but most of the way does not exceed 160 km / h.
The train travels from Moscow to Nizhny Novgorod in 3 hours and 45 minutes, which is one and a half times less than the travel time of ordinary trains, while a seat in the Strizh costs almost the same as a seat in a compartment of an ordinary train in the same direction. Last year, the carrier announced plans to increase the travel time to 3 hours and 20 minutes.
Since 2016, the Strizh train has also been running between Moscow and Berlin, the travel time is just over 20 hours.
The trains have VIP (SV) carriages with sleeping places and individual bathrooms, as well as seated carriages of the 1st and economy class. The price of a 1st class ticket includes meals. The total number of seats in a regular train is 216, in a double train - 414. All cars are equipped with toilets.
On the way, you can buy coffee/tea, confectionery, newspapers and magazines from the trolleys. Wi-Fi is available for a fee. The train has a dining car and a buffet car.
"Swallow" Moscow - Kursk
Lastochka are high-speed electric trains created by Siemens for suburban transportation at the Winter Olympics in Sochi. Today, these trains are operated in several directions, including providing high-speed rail links between Moscow and Kursk.
The first trains set off on the route in June 2014. Lastochka allows you to get from Moscow to Kursk in less than five and a half hours, while a regular train takes almost 7 hours.
The train has only seats, there are 1st and economy class cars, and in both of them there are compartments of increased comfort. 1st class passengers are offered free drinks and newspapers. Toilet complexes are located at the head of the train. When buying tickets, passengers can choose a seat in the direction of travel or vice versa, at the window (even numbers) or at the aisle, there are special combined seating blocks for the convenience of families or large companies. In total, there are 340 seats in a regular train (680 in a double train).
Although there are still few high-speed trains in Russia, passengers have already appreciated the convenience and excellent characteristics of this modern mode of transport. You can buy a ticket for both high-speed and regular trains.
Very soon, the Moscow-Beijing high-speed railway will connect the two states, China and Russia. The preliminary cost of the project is equal to 1.5 trillion yuan, or $242 billion. The total length of the road will be 7 thousand kilometers. Travel time from one point to another will be 2 days, and the road itself will be laid through the territory of Kazakhstan.
Minimum travel time
Today, China is actively offering its innovative technologies in the construction of international railways. One of these projects should be the Moscow-Beijing high-speed railway. The news spread around the world very quickly, especially given the chilled relations between America, Europe and Russia, combined with the conflict in eastern Ukraine and Russia's attempts to recover from the stunning collapse of the international oil market. In October 2014, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the China Railway Construction Corporation and the Ministry of Transport of the Russian Federation, Russian Railways and the State Committee for Development and Reform of the People's Republic of China in the field of high-speed rail. The main purpose of the document was the development of a project for a Eurasian high-speed transport corridor, the structure of which will include the Moscow-Kazan highway.
The history of the idea
High-speed iron at the level of the idea has existed for quite a long time. The project should be a great alternative for those who do not have the desire to travel by air. The transfer of the idea to the level of the project being implemented occurred against the backdrop of the activation of purchases in America, the delivery of which is guaranteed by specialists as soon as possible. The high-speed rail project should provide countries such as China and Russia with decent competitiveness in the international market. As mentioned above, according to representatives of Russian Railways, the Moscow-Beijing high-speed railway will cost the countries 7 trillion rubles. The Chinese partners are ready to invest in the construction of the road an amount equivalent to 4 trillion rubles, all other expenses will be assigned to the Russian budget. Today, active negotiations are underway to allocate funds for the construction of a road along the Moscow-Kazan route as part of an international project.
What delays road construction?
The period when the expressway will begin to be built is still little known. This is due to the protracted resolution of funding issues. Given the situation that has developed in Russia today, despite the fact that China is ready to take on most of the costs, the country is simply not ready to incur such a massive financial cost. 3 trillion rubles is an unaffordable capital for the state today. It is highly likely that private investors will be attracted to the project.
Technical points and preliminary decisions
The information provided by correspondents of The Beijing Times speaks of an active discussion of the construction of a railway between the countries. The first step towards the implementation of the project should be the way from Moscow to Kazan. It is planned to start the route in Beijing, then the road will pass through cities such as Khabarovsk and Ulan Bator, Irkutsk and Astana, Yekaterinburg. Moscow will be the final destination. The completed high-speed railway will be three times longer than the current high-speed line between Beijing and Guangzhou. The travel time between cities after the implementation of the project will be not six days, but only two. Today, only two trains run between the capitals of the two states during the week. The route was opened in 1954. The Trans-Siberian Railway is considered the longest in the world. It stretched from Moscow to Vladivostok. It crosses 400 stations, and its length is 9288 kilometers.
The first difficulties and the first cardinal steps
High-speed in the short term is unlikely to enter its route. As mentioned above, the first stage of the project, which in the future will connect the territories of the two states, should be the Moscow-Kazan road, the preliminary cost of which turned out to be too high for Russia. To attract investors, Gazprombank held a road show worth 1.06 trillion rubles in cities such as Beijing and Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai. According to preliminary information, a number of meetings with potential partners around the world have already taken place:
- May 14 - in Singapore.
- May 15 - in Shanghai.
- May 16 - in Beijing.
In the future, a visit of representatives of Gazprom Bank to Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, is being considered. According to Russian Railways representatives, meetings with Asian investors have been planned for several months. It is necessary to involve the East in partnership due to severe sanctions from the West. The message from Pronedra said that the expressway would not be built in the next few years. The implementation of the first part of the project, the HSR between Moscow and Kazan, may be postponed to 2020. This is due to the fact that Russian Railways has not yet managed to find an investor.
The first stage of the project implementation
The state budget of the country and Russian Railways intend to allocate 191.9 billion rubles for the first stage of the project implementation. Other sections of the route, such as Vladimir-Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod-Cheboksary, Cheboksary-Kazan, are planned to be developed through concessions. This is what the Ministry of Transport announced on January 29, 2015. For the first time, residents of the region, within the framework of which the high-speed road will be implemented, learned about the project only at the beginning of 2015. The new track will run parallel to the M-7 federal highway, known as the Volga. The train will make stops. In particular, in Vladimir the station will be located in Sukhodol.
What do the inhabitants of the regions say?
The Moscow-Beijing high-speed railway, on the map, which will pass through a fairly large section of territories, has caused a very mixed reaction among people who will have to live next door to it. There are those who are worried about the expected damage that will affect farmland, forests and established laying. The authorities officially announced that at each site where construction will be carried out, all activities will be pre-agreed with the population. One of the sources of information says that if a sponsor can be found, the HSR will be opened in 2018. The maximum speed on the road will be 400 kilometers per hour, which will shorten the journey from Moscow to Kazan from 11 hours to 3.5.
Duties of the parties
The Moscow-Beijing high-speed railway, the scheme of which is theoretically very attractive and profitable, according to preliminary plans, should begin its work in the period from 2018 to 2020. In the future, the Chinese side undertakes to provide its technologies for the implementation of the project. The country is ready to take full responsibility for planning and construction. In exchange for large-scale assistance, China is ready to accept energy resources from Russia.
Until December 15, 2014, it was planned to develop the conditions under which Chinese companies will be able to participate in the project. Information about whether it was possible to formalize the agreement is still hidden from the public. The right to design the Moscow-Kazan highway project was won by a Russian-Chinese consortium managed by Mostgiprotrans OJSC with the active participation of Nizhegorodmetroproekt OJSC and CREEC (China Railway Eryuan Engineering Group Co. Ltd.). The price of the contract for this category of work is equal to 20 billion rubles, but excluding VAT.
Analysts about the project
The Moscow-Beijing high-speed railway is a high-priority and promising project, but this does not prevent analysts from being skeptical about it. They say that the timing of the launch of high-speed lines in the context of 2018-2020 is unrealistic. According to Alexey Bezborodov, who holds the post of general director of the InfraNews agency, the project will not be launched in the next decade either. The basis for this attitude was the official statement of the Russian Railways representative that at the moment there is no specific action plan for the construction of high-speed lines. There is only a high probability that the Moscow-Kazan road will be extended to Yekaterinburg and beyond in the future.
Who will benefit from the construction of the expressway?
It will bring certain advantages not only for Russian Railways, but also for states as a whole. This is due to agglomeration effects that will arise as the population is resettled during the implementation of the project. In the expected future, the high-speed highway should increase GRP by 30-70% in the regions. Additional income from the road will correspond to at least 11 trillion rubles in the first decade of the project operation. This figure was presented by a group of economic institutions headed by the Ministry of Economic Development. If the high-speed railway does appear, the GRP will increase by 38% only on the territory of the Vladimir region alone. This is about plus 84 billion rubles. By 2030, this figure will increase by 58%, or in monetary terms - by 131 billion rubles. In the Nizhny Novgorod region, the expected economic growth is 39%, or 252 billion rubles, but by 2030 it should be at least 76%, or 496 billion. In Chuvashia, the value is expected to grow by 13%, or 20 billion rubles. By 2025, the jump will be 28%, or 43 billion rubles. In Tatarstan, the expected growth of the economy by 2025 will be 27%, or 274 billion rubles.
On April 3, 2007, the French TGV POS train set a new train speed record of 574.8 km/h. It is still in force today. When considering the issue of speed records on the railway, it should be borne in mind that the decisive role here is played not by the locomotive, but by the track facilities. Consider how it has developed in different countries.
1. Japan
The Japanese were the first to solve the problem of modernizing their railways. It happened in the late 50s of the last century. It was a necessary event on the eve of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Because Japanese roads were archaic. The track gauge was only 1067 mm, the tracks were worn out, the fleet of locomotives was obsolete.
In record time, in 5.5 years, the Japanese built the 552-kilometer wide-gauge Shinkansen line that linked Tokyo and Osaka. Here, for the first time in the world, technologies of jointless laying of rails were used: they are soldered into kilometer-long strips and in this form are delivered on a platform to the place of laying. The geometry of the joints of these lashes is such that temperature changes do not lead to the formation of gaps between them.
Naturally, there are no crossings on the line, for which more than a hundred bridges and tunnels had to be built. A fundamentally new type of train was used on the Shinkansen, which, with the light hand of journalists, was nicknamed the "bullet train". There is no locomotive in the pool train: the engine is installed on each wheel axle, which allows a significant increase in power.
In 1964, trains ran between Tokyo and Osaka at 210 km/h. Now the Nozomi N-700 electric train flies 552 km in 2 hours and 25 minutes, reaching a speed of up to 300 km/h. At the moment, Shinkansen, which links all major cities in Japan, is the most popular mode of transport. In 50 years of operation, the Shinkansen trains, running in the morning and evening hours at intervals of six minutes, have transported almost 7 billion passengers.
2. France
Europe responded to the Japanese railway breakthrough with a significant delay. This is partly due to the fact that European designers in the 1950s and 60s experimented with great enthusiasm with the hovercraft and with the maglev - this is the name of the maglev train.
The decision to create a high-speed line similar to the Japanese one was made in France in the second half of the 1960s. It took the National Railway Society of France fifteen years to develop and launch the Paris-Lyon line, which was named TGV (train a` grande vitesse - high-speed train). The creation of the track was, although an expensive undertaking, but it did not cause any special problems for the engineers. It was more difficult to design the train itself. And then the world economic situation unexpectedly intervened in the plans of the designers. The fact is that at the first stage it was decided to use a gas turbine plant as a locomotive engine. In 1971, the TGV-001 turbo train was successfully tested, showing excellent performance. He reached a speed of 318 km / h, which still remains the world record for trains without electric traction. However, the energy crisis that occurred in 1973 forced the SNCF leadership to abandon the use of fuel that had risen sharply in TGVs. There was a reorientation to the use of less expensive electricity produced at French nuclear power plants.
In the end, by the year 80, the Paris-Lyon line was also ready. The electric locomotive and wagons were manufactured by Alstom. On September 27, 1981, the line was put into operation. The train covered the distance between two French cities in 2 hours, moving at a speed of 260 km/h. Now the speed on the TGV lines covering Europe reaches 350 km/h. As for the average speed, it is 263.3 km/h. At the same time, the rolling stock is constantly being modernized, new models are being created. On April 3, 2007, a new shortened TGV POS train reached a speed of 574.8 km/h on the new 106 km LGV EST line connecting Paris with Lorraine. This is an absolute record on the railroad. In this case, the braking distance was 32 km.
Trains of the TGV POS type, plying in France, Germany, Switzerland and Luxembourg, resemble Russian electric trains. They have two head motor cars, between which there are eight intermediate trailers. Number of seats - 377.
High-speed routes are subject to special requirements in addition to the seamless connection of rails. The turning radius is at least 4000 m. The center distances of adjacent tracks are at least 4.5 m, which reduces the aerodynamic effect when two oncoming trains pass, the relative speed of which can reach 700 km/h. The tunnels through which the route passes are specially designed to minimize aerodynamic impact when entering and exiting the tunnel. A special signaling system is used on the driver's dashboard and automatic braking is provided in case the driver's reaction is not fast enough. The paths are securely fenced to prevent collisions with animals. In order for the pantograph not to catch up with the wave running from it along the contact wire, the wire has a greater tension than on conventional lines. There is a speed limit on TGV lines, but not from above, but from below. This is required so that slow-moving vehicles do not reduce the throughput of high-speed lines.
3. USA
Oddly enough, there are no truly high-speed lines in the USA. Despite the fact that the trains on the Washington-Baltimore-Philadelphia-New York-Boston route are manufactured by the French company Alstom. The maximum speed of trains in regular passenger traffic is 241 km/h. Route speed is lower: when traveling from end to end along the entire 735 km route, it is 110 km/h. This is explained by the fact that high-speed French trains are forced to “travel” along the old track.
True, since 2013, the construction of a classic high-speed line between Los Angeles and San Francisco has begun. It is scheduled to be operational in 2020, and TGV POS will be able to demonstrate everything they can on it.
4. Germany
Intercity-Express is a network of high-speed trains, mainly distributed in Germany, developed by Deutsche Bahn. The current generation of Intercity-Express trains, ICE 3, was developed by a consortium of Siemens AG and Bombardier under the overall direction of Siemens AG. The maximum speed of ICE trains on specially built sections of the railway network is 320 km/h. On standard sections of the network, ICE speeds average 160 km/h. The length of the sections on which ICE can reach speeds of more than 230 km / h is 1200 km.
ICE is the main type of long-distance train provided by the German Railways (Deutsche Bahn). They provide both maximum speed and maximum travel comfort. ICE became the basis for the development by Siemens AG of its family of high-speed trains under the common trademark Siemens Velaro. Velaro projects have been implemented, in particular, in Spain and China. These trains are also delivered to Russia for use on high-speed lines Moscow - St. Petersburg and Moscow - Nizhny Novgorod.
5. Russia
The Moscow-Petersburg route, along which the Sapsan train moves, should be recognized as a conditionally high-speed one, since for the most part it is a slightly modernized legacy of the Soviet track facilities. In this connection, a train manufactured by the German company Siemens, capable of reaching speeds of up to 350 km/h, only pulls 250 km/h in one section. The average speed is 140 km/h.
By 2017, it is planned to make the track completely high-speed. And then the movement between the two capitals will be reduced from 4 hours to 2.
However, Russian Railways still set a record on this line. The amount of the contract for the purchase and operation of 8 trains exceeded 600 million euros. The purchase of the same number of fourth-generation fighters would be cheaper. Quite an expensive pleasure, allowing the "St. Petersburg" to visit their native land for the weekend.
6. China
China has the world's largest high-speed and high-speed rail network, exceeding those of Japan and Europe combined. The average speed here is 200 km/h or more.
China's express and high-speed roads include: upgraded conventional rail lines, new lines built specifically for high-speed trains, and the world's first commercial maglev lines.
As of December 2013, the total length of such roads in the PRC was over 14,400 km, including 7,268 km sections with a maximum train speed of 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 18,000 km by the end of the 12th Five-Year Plan in 2015.
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. An example is the development of the CRH-380A series trains, which set a record for China's high-speed roads, about 500 km/h, manufactured in China and reaching speeds over 350 km/h, and in operation since 2010. It is also reported that the new Beijing-Shanghai train will be developed by the Chinese company Shagun Rail Wheels and launched before 2012.
7. Eastern maglev
Maglev trains can conditionally be attributed to railway transport, although they hover above the canvas at a distance of 1.5 centimeters. In this class of express trains, the speed record is 581 km/h. It was installed in 2003 by the Japan Railway Technical Research Institute Maglev MLX01 at the test site. Until now, it is not known about the timing of the introduction of the Japanese maglev into commercial operation. However, the trains are already flying stably and without accidents, and residents of the surrounding towns and villages are already riding them on holidays.
Since 2002, a Chinese 30-kilometer high-speed line has been operating connecting Shanghai with Padong Airport. A monorail is used on this road, over which, after acceleration, the train hovers at a distance of 1.5 cm. The speed of the Shanghai maglev, built by the German company Transrapid (a subsidiary of Siemens AG and ThyssenKrupp), is 450 km / h.
In the foreseeable future, the Shanghai line will be extended to the city of Hangzhou, and its length will be 175 km.
