China brings back the glory to the rail

SECTION SPONSORED BY CHINA DAILY I TUESDAY, JULY 30, 2013 I DISTRIBUTED WITH THE DAILY TELEGRAPH 2 FACTS & FIGURES CHINAWATCH +e t CHINA DAILY CHINA BRINGS RAIL BACK TO GLORY 1876 1881 1958 BAOTOU-LANZHOU RAILWAY WUSONG RAILWAY TANGSHAN-XUGEZHUANG RAILWAY The first Chinese railway to pass through the desert Length: h:990 km The first built in China The first built by the Chinese Operation: from October 1958 The railway was originally planned in the 1920s, but construction was postponed because of technical Length: 14 km Length: 9.7 km Operation: July 1876 to October 1877 Operation: from 1881 obstacles and financial problems. Built between 1954 and 1958, 140 km of the line Thenarrow-gauge passengerralwayin Shanghai connected the outskirts The first railway buit by the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and also the of the United States Concession in today's Zhabei district and Wusong country'stirst standardgauge ralway. Althoughtirstoperatedunder in Baoshan district. Tian Guiying, the |country's first woman train driver in Northeast China, became a national run through the Tengger Desertin Inner Mongolia autonomous region Gansu province, the fourth largest desert in China horsepower, a steam locomotive was used from 1882. The line was built by Kaiping Mining Bureau to transport coaland the Buit by Jardine & Matheson of the UK, the forerunner of today's Jardine Matheson Holdings, without approval first ralway company, Kaiping Raiway Co, was established in 1886. Baoshan trom the Qing government. the railway was later Zhabei The railway forms part of today's Beijing to Shenyang line. model worker in 1950. purchased by the government and dismantled. Its route now forms part of Shanghai Metro's BEIJING-KOWLOON RAILWAY SHANGHAI elevated Line 3. The longest in China Length: 2,553 km BELING Operation: from Sept 1, 1996 Theralwayconnects Beijing and Hong Kong through 1996 Tianjin, and the provinces of Hebei, Shandong. Henan, Anhui, Hubei, Jiangxi and Guangdong. It has 790 bridges and 160 tunnels. HONG 2003 GUANGDONG-HAINAN RAILWAY 2003 SHANGHAI MAGLEV TRAIN The first cross-sea railway in China The world's first commercially operated high-speed magnetic levitation line Length: 30.5 km Operation: from Dec 29, 2003 So far, the only maglev line operating in China and the third in the world. The line connects Shanghai Pudong International Airport and the outskirts of central Pudong where passengers can change onto the Shanghai Metro. The top commercial operating sp worlid's fastest train in regular commercial service. Length: 345 km Operation: from Jan 7, 2003 The railway links Zhanjiang. Guangdong province and the city of Sanya in the southern island province of Hainan, The uniquenessof therailway liesinitstrain ferryacross the Qiongzhou Strait. On arriving speed of the train i s431 km/h, making it the atthe docks, the power supplyiscut offand the trainis dividedinto four sections. Two locomotives push thecarriages onto the ferryin 20 or 30 minutes. The power supply in the carriages returns tonormalonce they are secured on the ferry. The ferry leaves the dock and passengers remain on the train during the voyage. On arrival at the opposite dock, the carriages are pulled onto the rails once the tracks between the dockand the ferryare connected. However, as the carriages are placed on the ferry's lowest deck, most rail passengers can't see the sea. HAINAN Undercarriage Rail or guideway 2006 QINGHAI-TIBET RAILWAY Electric current Length: 1.965 km Operation: from July 1, 2006 Magnets are attached to the train's A high-elevation railway connecting Xining. the capital of et autonomous region. The journey takes 23,5 hours. The line includes the Tangula Mountain Pass, which. at 5,072 m above sea level, makes it the Qinghai province, to Lhasa, capital of undercarriage. fosmud Magnetic guide controls the propulsion of the train. world's highest railway. More than 960 S km long, roughly 80 percent of the Golmud-Lhasa section, is at QINGHAIIN an elevation of more than 4.000 m TIвEе LHASA 2011 1,761,542 Number of railway transport employees in 2011 2012 BEIJING-GUANGZHOU RAILWAY The world's longest high-speed railway Operation: from Dec 26, 2012 The line runs through Heibei, Henan and Hunan provinces before reaching Guangzhou of Guangdong province with 36 stops, It will connect to Hong Kong by 2015. Covering a total length of 2,350 km, the C.R.H. shortens the travel time from 20 hours to just over 8 hours. A first-class seat costs 1,645 yuan ($268), roughly the same as a full-price economy air ticket, while second-class costs 1.383 yuan and third-class is 865 yuan. Harbin LENGTH OF EACH LINE Shenyang BEIJING Qingdao-Shijiazhuang Taiyuan 906 km Xuzhou-Zhengzhou-Lanzhou Tianijin Taiyuan 1.346 km Shijiazhuang Qingdao Shanghai-Nanjing Wuhan-Chongqing Chengdu 1.922 km Lanzhou Zhengzhou Xuzhou Shanghai-Hangzhou-Nanchang-Changsha-Kunming Nanjing 2,264 km wuhan Beijing-Shanghai Chengdu Hangzhow Shanghai 1,318 km Chongging Changsha Ningbo Nanchang Fuzhou Bejing-Shenyang-Harbin 1,612 km Shanghai-Hangzhou Ningbo Fuzhou-Shenzhen Xiamen 1650 km Beijing-Wuhan-Guangzhou-Shenzhen (Hong Kong) 2,350 km Kunming Guiyang Guangzhou Shantou Shenzhen THE CHENGDU-KUNMING RAILWAY HAS: THE HIGHEST POINT OF ANY RAILROAD IN THE WORLD QINGHAI-TIBET RAILWAY 991 427 5,072m bridges tunnels Tangula Mountain Pass PASSENGER TRAFFIC BY REGION IN 2011 Guangdong 144,410,000 Liaoning 120,440,000 Sichuan 131,470,000 Heilongjiang 107,450,000 Jiangsu 106,030,000 98.000,000 Beijing Henan 88,040,000 Zhejiang 88,880,000 Hebei 76.010.000 Shandong 73,270,000 Hunan 80,640,000 Shaanxi 56,140.000 Hubei Anhui Jiangxi 61,520,000 59,800,000 70,830,000 m Shany E62.190.000 Guizhou 39,390,000 Jilin Shanghai 61,980,000 61,410,000 Fujian 46,950.000 Guangxi 33,830,000 Gansu Chongging 29.340,000 Xinjiang 19.640,000 24,510,000 Inner Mongolia 42,070,000 Yunnan 27,270,000 Hainan 10,740.000 Tianjin 28,290.000 Qinghail 5,200,000 Ningxia 5,430,000 Tibet 1.100,000 LENGTH OF RAILWAYS IN OPERATION PASSENGER NUMBERS 93,200 2011 1,862,260,000 2011 Unit km 68,700 2000 57,900 1990 922.040,000 1980 957,120,000 1990 53,300 1980 1,050,730,000 2000 FASTEST TRAINS ON EARTH The Maglev from Shanghai can run up to 431 km/h. The drawbar power of the CRH380AL reaches 20,000 KW, and the train takes less than 4 minutes to reach 300 km/h. On June 24, 2008, a CRH3 reached a top speed of 394.3 k m/h during a test on the Beijing to Tianjin high-speed line. Top running speed for this variant is 380 km/h. CHINA STAR BULLET TRAIN could go up to 270 km/h. BLUE ARROW could go up to 200 km/h. * Locomotives in China can attain a maximum speed of 120 km/h (75 mph) on passenger trains. NUMBER OF NATIONAL RAILWAY FREIGHT CARS FREIGHT (Metric tons) 1990 364,966 3,932,630,00o 439,943 1,785,810,000 1,506,810,000 1,112,790,000 644,677 1980 1990 2000 2011 NUMBER OF NATIONAL RAILWAY PASSENGER COACHES 1990 27261 2000 35989 2011 52838 Source: China Statistical Yearbook, 2012 GUILLERMO MUNRO /CHINA DAILY eesee m