China’s incredible high-speed rail network: A symbol of economic superpower

According to CNN, China is the country with the largest high-speed rail network in the world.
At the beginning of the 21st century, China didn’t have any high-speed railways, just slow and often annoying trains on long journeys. However, today the country with the largest population in the world has the largest high-speed rail network in the world. High-speed rail networks are crisscrossed, of which half of the project was completed after just five years of construction.

Illustration. Source: CNN With a maximum speed of 350km/h, China’s high-speed railway will meet the needs of many intercity travel routes, creating favorable travel conditions for passengers. As of 2020, 75% of Chinese cities already have high-speed rail. Symbol of economic power quyền China’s ambition is to turn high-speed rail into a model for long-distance travel in the country. However, the birth of the country’s current massive rail network takes on much greater significance. Like Japan’s Shinkansen in the 1960s, China’s high-speed rail network is being viewed as a symbol of economic power, rapid modernization, growing technological prowess, and prosperity. prosperity of the country. Currently, high-speed rail is a powerful instrument of social cohesion, political influence and regional integration between cultures. “The construction of new railway lines is part of President Xi Jinping’s grand plan to promote integration into the vast national market,” said Dr. SOAS) of the University of London said. This move shows that China is repeating the history of promoting high-speed rail networks, before many early railway lines in North America and Europe have done so. The development of railway networks in Russia, France, Great Britain and several other countries has been strongly influenced by political and military needs. “China has created a high-speed rail network on an unprecedented scale in history, which is forecast to be faster and certainly more reliable than China’s domestic flights. New stations and incredible travel routes are the highlight of this program. All tickets must be booked in advance and passengers only need to scan their ID card or passport at the ticket gates,” the travel expert said. railroad Mark Smith emphasized. China initially thought of choosing high-speed technology imported from Europe and Japan to establish a high-speed rail network. “Global railway engineering giants” such as Bombardier, Alstom and Mitsubishi are all keen to promote the cooperation program because of the potential size of the new market and the ambitious plan that China is targeting through the project. this. However, over the past decade, China’s domestic companies have developed into world leaders in high-speed train technology and engineering. Therefore, the mobilization of the available potential is considered a certain success of China in this field. The enormous scale and dramatic changes in topography, geology and climate posed many challenges during the implementation of this project. From Harbin to the Lanzhou-Urumqi route across the Gobi desert, Chinese engineers had to spend a lot of effort to be able to design suitable weather terrain to meet quality standards for the road route. iron across. High-tech simulation efficiency Chinese companies are among the world leaders in introducing new technology such as autonomous (unmanned) train operations and advanced navigation technology. Passengers board the high-speed train. Photo: CNN An unmanned high-speed train connecting Beijing and Zhangjiakou in northern Hebei province capable of reaching speeds of up to 350km/h is now becoming the world’s fastest autonomous train. The new route opened in December 2019 as part of preparations for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. The fastest trains complete the journey in just 45 minutes. Built in four years, the route includes 10 stations serving two of the major Winter Olympics venues, along with several other stations in Badaling Changcheng allowing tourists to have a journey to their destination. The fastest Great Wall of China. Passenger cars on the self-propelled train have been expanded to store winter sports equipment, seats with 5G touch screen control panels, smart lighting systems, thousands of safety sensors and seats removable for wheelchair passengers… As China seeks to expand its influence across Asia, into Europe and Africa through its ambitious “Belt and Road Initiative”, the construction of a high-speed rail network is under way, according to CNN. contribute a fundamental part to create the “Silk Road” that Beijing is aiming for. “China’s high-speed rail industry has become one of the nation’s main economic pillars, and the high-speed rail network has brought convenience to passengers during travel,” said Jianwei. Zhang, President and Country Representative of Bombardier China said.