Zeng could fly home but that would cost three times as much.
The train is not a good choice because the railway route along the coastline linking the two cities is quite long.
Fujian lies on the Taiwan Strait. In the days when relations between Taiwan and Chinese mainland was tense, the building of railway along the coastal frontier was not seen as politically sensible by the mainland authorities.
Zeng’s trip to see her parents by train would take about 11 hours those days.
Things changed recently when Fujian opened high-speed railway linking to Shanghai on April 26, 2010. The railway, 275 km in length, was designed for trains traveling at a maximum speed of 250 km per hour. It reduced the travel time between Fuzhou and Xiamen to around 90 minutes from 11 hours. “The entire trip only takes one and a half hours. And one train is available every hour. This is very convenient,” says Zeng.
China’s development of high-speed railroad may have been late but over the past five years, the country has accomplished what other countries have taken decades to achieve.
China’s first high-speed railroad, the 120 km Beijing to Tianjin inter-city line, went into operation on Aug. 1, 2008. According to the Ministry of Railway (MOR), by the end of 2009, there were 6,552 km of high-speed track in operation and an additional 10,000 km tracks were under construction.
It is expected that by the end of 2012, China will have 13,000 km of high-speed railroad in service covering 110,000 km. A high-speed rail network with four lines each to North-South and East-West will take shape and most of the provincial capitals of China will be accessible from Beijing by high-speed trains within eight hours.
One of these, the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway line, opened in December 2009, runs 33 trains a day. MOR statistics suggest that their average occupancy rate is 84 percent, with the busiest day recording 82,200 passengers.
High-speed trains carried 2.132 million of passengers traveling between Wuhan and Guangzhou in the 40-day peak period surrounding the Lunar New Year’s Day. This provided great relief for conventional train services and other means of transport. The high-speed trains are expected to help in other peak seasons like National Day and summer vacation for students.
The development of high-speed rail network is a response to growing transport demand that results from quick-paced industrialization and urbanization.
Large-scale investments in high-speed rail projects, involving a long chain of industries, also help the national economy in difficult economic times.
More importantly though, infrastructure building such as this has a deep reaching effect on the entire society. A common saying of Chinese villagers in the early 1980s — when the country’s economic reform had just started — was, “Build the road before building wealth.” A current version of the saying might well begin with “Build the high-speed railroad…”
High-speed rail has many advantages: It is fast, comfortable, and has a large carrying capacity. And, its environmental-friendly design is particularly in keeping with global trends.
High-speed trains run with little noise, vibration, and carbon emissions. MOR figures show that they are cost-efficient and energy saving — consuming less than 16 kw/h of electricity per person. This is 20 percent savings compared to air travel and 30 percent compared to automobile travel.
Comprehensive energy consumption by a high-speed train is 0.24 ton of coal for each 10,000 yuan of revenue, which is 43 percent that of the conventional train. The construction of high-speed railway is comparatively land-saving, because the rail base is narrower than the conventional one, and in the case of the Wuhan-Guangzhou line, 80 percent of the rails are laid on bridges or in tunnels.
High-speed rail development is also a way to achieve the government’s strategic goal for technical and equipment modernization. The normal speed of trains running on the Wuhan-Guangzhou line is 350 km/h. It is the world’s fastest train in service. A faster train, with maximum speed up to 500 km/h, is being developed.
According to MOR, by August 2010, China’s high-speed trains have safely traveled 80 million km, carrying more than 300 million ticketed passengers. China claims to be the world leader in rail, and particularly high-speed rail technologies
Chinese rail technology comes from several sources: Independent innovation; developed in partnership with other countries; and through technology transfer. MOR statistics showed that between 2003 and 2009 China’s railway sector submitted 946 patent applications.
“The international elements of our technology are all legally acquired,” said Chen Juemin, director-general of MOR Department for International Cooperation, “There has been no dispute on that.”
China’s high-speed rail development has impressed the world. Since 2003 China has signed some 30 agreements and Memorandums of Understanding with other countries on cooperation in railway development. On that list are such countries as Saudi Arabia, the United States, Russia, Brazil, Turkey, Poland and India.
China is prepared to share its high-speed rail expertise with the world. MOR encourages domestic companies to seek contracts abroad. As the chief coordinator of these activities, the ministry has set up a handful of coordinating groups. Each specializes in affairs of a specific country or region. Diverse resources are being organized into formidable bidding groups.
The high-standard construction and sound operational records at home demonstrate China’s capability in high-speed rail development. Together with reasonable prices and preferential government policies in bank credits, insurance and taxes, Chinese bidders are proving fairly competitive in the international market.
However, the Chinese bidder tasted a major setback in tendering for the Makkah-Madinah phase II project in the Kingdom. The bidding group led by CSR (China South Locomotive & Rolling Stock Corporation) dropped out of the game in mid-July), because it lacked the experience of managing high-speed train service abroad. MOR also admitted that it had a shortage of specialists, particularly people who were competent in foreign languages, to deal with rapidly growing export business.
To some foreigners, China’s development of high-speed rail is a powerful way to rejuvenate what could otherwise be seen as a dying means of transport. Chinese high-speed rail is indeed one of the few truly valuable and competitive products that China has to offer to the world. This achievement was attained through a proper strategy administered by the Chinese government, which proved invaluable at steering massive operations in a centralized manner.
The expansion of high-speed railways is reshuffling the business of mass transportation. Affected by the Zhengzhou to Xi’an high-speed trains, air travel between the two cities has been severely hit. But the pressure of railway on other means of transport need not necessarily be negative. Competition may get tough but each mode of transportation has its own sphere where it excels.
Ground transport is the best for short distance service. High-speed trains are likely best for traveling within the distance of 1,000 km. Air travel holds sway for longer distances.
As for Zeng, she says she will still take the bus from Fuzhou to Xiamen if she has heavy luggage, because the bus stop is near her home. Otherwise, she will choose the high-speed train.
