China investing heavily in high-speed rail

42 lines expected by 2012

Vilas Bhuchar, Feb 16, 10.

While the US hopes to build its first high-speed rail line by 2014 in Florida, China plans to have 42 high-speed lines in operation by 2012, according to The New York Times.

Chinese high-speed trains average speeds of up to 215 miles per hour, greatly reducing travel times, the story says. For instance, the story notes that the travel time of an 820-mile route from Beijing to Shanghai will be reduced from 12 hours to 5 hours when the line is opened next year (approx 30 miles further than the distance between Houston and Atlanta).

China’s push for an expansive high-speed network is a response to 2004 blackouts caused by poor central planning, the story:

After China joined the World Trade Organization in November 2001, exports and manufacturing soared. Electricity generation failed to keep up because the railway ministry had not built enough rail lines or purchased enough locomotives to haul the coal needed to run new power plants.

By 2004, the government was turning off the power to some factories up to three days a week to prevent blackouts in residential areas.

To combat this, the story notes, “officials drafted a plan to move much of the nation’s passenger traffic onto high-speed routes by 2020, freeing existing tracks for more freight.” However, after the late 2008 global financial crisis forced mass layoffs at export factories, Chinese officials provided more than $100 billion in stimulus money for high-speed rail, mobilized hundreds of thousands of laborers, and pushed for the rail system to be completed by 2012 instead of 2020.

The story suggests that the high-speed network will increase China’s economic strength and compares it to America’s expansive highway system:

Indeed, the web of superfast trains promises to make China even more economically competitive, connecting this vast country — roughly the same size as the United States — as never before, much as the building of the Interstate highway system increased productivity and reduced costs in America a half-century ago.

In contrast to China’s allocation of $100 billion in high-speed rail stimulus funding, the U.S. recently announced that various states will share an $8 billion pot of stimulus money to be used for high-speed rail. The first American line, estimated to open by 2014, will be an 84-mile route linking Tampa and Orlando.

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(Photo credit: Cheryl & Rich)