Tests under way that could raise top speed of China’s bullet trains
Print Edition
TESTS have begun in a bid to restore the maximum speed on the Shanghai-Beijing rail line to 350 kilometers per hour, six years after it was reduced to 300kph.
Departing Beijing South Railway Station at 8:38am yesterday, a Fuxing bullet train completed the round trip from Beijing to Xuzhou in east China’s Jiangsu Province, about 700 kilometers away, in around four hours.
The faster speed would cut the Shanghai-Beijing journey to about 4.5 hours, about half an hour faster than at present.
Connecting China’s major financial and trade hub with its capital, the Shanghai-Beijing high-speed line is one of the busiest in the country, carrying over 100 million passengers a year.
Yesterday’s test showed that energy consumption on the Fuxing decreased to 10 percent below that of the Hexie train (CRH380) when running at 350kph.
“The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway is built to the highest standard in the world, while the Fuxing is designed and manufactured with an operating speed of 350 kilometers per hour,” said Lu Dongfu, China Railway Corp’s general manager.
China started to run its first 350kph train between Beijing and Tianjin in August 2008 and opened at least three more high-speed lines nationwide in the following years, until the authorities ordered speeds to be cut to between 250 and 300kph in 2011.
China’s Fuxing bullet trains were unveiled in June and are capable of top speeds of 400kph.
“The Fuxing was designed and manufactured in China, led by the China Railway Corp. We hold the complete intellectual property rights of the new bullet trains — electric multiple units (EMU) — which have reached the world’s advanced level,” said He Huawu of the China Academy of Engineering.
The new EMU has completed 600,000 kilometers of running assessment and increased the design life to 30 years from 20, He said.
The Fuxing has a monitoring system that slows the train in case of emergency or abnormal conditions. Telemetry allows a control center to monitor the train in real time.
The Fuxing is a substantial upgrade on the Hexie. It is more spacious and energy-efficient, with longer life expectancy and better reliability.
There will be a process for China to consider whether to speed up its whole high-speed network, though such a move may pose a challenge to railway management, He said, adding that the financial and social benefits must be considered.
The Fuxing, despite its increased efficiency, would consume 20-30 percent more energy if its speed went from 300kph to 350kph, according to Du Yanliang of the China Academy of Engineering.
However, the speed hike would improve social benefits, as it will help ease ticket shortages on the busy Shanghai-Beijing line and save time for passengers.
China will operate seven Fuxing trains in either direction of the Shanghai-Beijing line in its initial stage. Ticket prices will not change.
The authorities will gradually increase the number of the new bullet train and adjust ticket prices in future, He said.
China has the world’s longest high-speed rail network, 22,000 kilometers at the end of last year, or about 60 percent of the world’s total.
About a third of China’s high-speed railways were designed to run at a speed of 350kph, He said.
Several countries, including Indonesia, Russia and India, have bought Chinese bullet trains.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
