China plans 236 mph rail link between Shanghai and Beijing

by Scott Carmichael on

The Chinese rail Ministry has announced plans to link the nations capital with its financial capital. Beijing and Shanghai are a little over 650 miles apart, and the current rail link takes over 10 hours.

The Chinese claim to have mastered the technology required to build their own high speed trains, and plan to operate them on the new line at speeds up to 236mph (380 km/h) which should cut the current journey time in half.

Previous high speed rail projects in China include one of the first commercial Maglev links which operates between Shanghai and the airport. In 2005 a regular high speed link between Beijing and Tianjin was opened and is based on the highly successful German ICE rolling stock.

High speed rail links have changed the landscape in Europe, and dedicated high speed lines already link the UK with France, Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany.

Being able to commute from city center to city center in under 5 hours will prove to be a very efficient solution in China, and will most certainly eat away at the airline market. The line is scheduled to be completed in 2012, a mere 4 years from now.

Forget flying around Europe. Take the train

by Iva Skoch on

For the eco-sensitive traveler, there is no excuse now for not taking the more environmentally friendly route through Europe, writes The Independent, among others. Rail companies are starting to advertise to the eco-conscious traveler as well. Who knew they cared so much about the environment, wink wink.

The truth is, Europe has been pumping a lot of money into upgrading its railways and encouraging people to take the train, rather than flying, especially if traveling only a short distance. With the budget airlines making it affordable, it is not uncommon for Europeans to fly from place to place even if it is only as little as 150 miles away because it is cheaper than taking the train.

Some of these new upgrades, however, might really make it better to take the train:

  • High-speed link between Madrid and Barcelona now only takes 2 and a half hours
  • The new east-west, Paris-toward the Rhine TGV route cruises at over 200mph and offers WI-Fi from Paris-Frankfurt
  • The new Lotschberg Base Tunnel through the Alps cuts an hour off the time of Basel-Milan trains

More upgrades, such as the long awaited Moscow-St. Petersburg fast train should be done next year.

New York’s Penn Station to remain hideous

by Iva Skoch on

I have seen my share of ugly architecture (I grew up surrounded by the best socialist realism had to offer, after all) but Penn Station in New York must still be in my Global Top 5 Architecture Nightmares. It is mind-baffling to think that they tore down the original beautiful Pennsylvania Station–which looked much like Grand Central–in the 1960s to build the monstrosity that serves as one of the nation’s busiest rail stations.

The NY Times reports today that the $14 billion plans to rebuild Penn Station and the district around it is in danger because of the “softening economy, shortfalls in government financing, political inertia and daunting logistical problems.” Meanwhile, the developers have already spent $50M in planning efforts.

Looks like Penn Station will remain Grand Central’s ugly sibling for a while.

Big in Japan: Japan’s maglev train will be the world’s fastest

by Matthew Firestone on

Quick question: what is the most iconic symbol of modern Japan?

If you guessed the shinkansen (??????) or bullet train, you’re sadly wrong!

Although for years these sleek and sexy high-speed trains have been smashing rail speed records, they’re only two decades or so away from being totally obsolete.

This week, the Central Japan Railway Company (JR Central) announced that it plans to construct the world’s fastest train, a second-generation maglev train that will run from Tokyo to central Japan.

With an estimated cost of 5.1 trillion yen (44.7 billion dollars), the project is expected to be completed by the 2025 financial year.

According to a company spokesperson: “It will be the fastest train ever – if it beats the one in Shanghai – with a velocity of about 500 kilometers (310 miles) per hour, travelling a distance of 290 kilometers (180 miles).”

Awesome.

The Shanghai maglev train, which was launched in 2002, is currently the fastest train in the world. Running from Pudong airport to the financial district, Shanghai’s maglev train travels at 430 kilometers (267 miles) per hour over a distance of 30.5 kilometers (18 miles).

So what exactly are maglev trains you ask? Good question.

A maglev, or magnetically levitating train, is a form of rail transportation that suspends, guides and propels carts using electromagnetic force.

Compared to traditional wheeled mass transit systems, maglev trains in theory have the potential to reach speeds upwards of 900 kilometers (600 miles) per hour, which is equivalent to jet aircraft.

To date, the only commercial maglev train in operation is the Shanghai line, though the Japanese have been experimentally testing maglev trains for years.

In 2003, a maglev train operated by JR Central reached speeds of 581 kilometers (361 miles) per hour, which is a smidgen faster than the French TGV, which is the fastest conventional train in the world.

At the time of the press release, JR Central did not actually confirm the exact extent of the new maglev line, though it’s likely to run from Tokyo to Nagoya, and perhaps as far as Osaka.

Although the Japanese are keen on reclaiming rail speed records from the French and Chinese, the pressure is on, especially since a series of other maglev projects are being planned around the world.

In the southern state of Bavaria in Germany, the government recently announced that it intends to build a maglev train line by 2014 that will connect Munich with its airport.

And in China, the government recently announced that it intends to extend their Shanghai maglev train to the city of Hangzhou, which is 170 kilometers (105 miles) away.

And even in the United States, the government has been considering a number of commercial maglev services to alleviate traffic congestion, such as a line between Washington and Baltimore.

Given the severity of the energy crisis and the increasing unliklihood that our days of driving SUVs are going to last forever, the future of maglev trains is indeed a promising one.

** All images sourced from the Wikipedia Commons project **

British Rail is bringin’ the romance back

by Martha Edwards on

I must admit, I love travelling by rail. It just seems so much more glamorous than travelling by bus. I love it so much that even when I took a rickety, crowded, overnight train from Surat Thani to Bangkok, I reveled in every bumpy moment. My love of rail, I suspect, is a direct result of the fact that I never take real trains except when travelling. Here in Western Canada, travel by rail is almost non-existent, unless you’re wealthy.

But for people who take trains frequently, it might no seem so romantic as I make it out to be. That’s why British Rail is investing so much money into renovating their stations, according to this article. St. Pancras station in London, for instance, just got a $1.6 Billion facelift, designed to make it a deluxe state-of-the-art building, which acts not only as a train depot but also as a dining and shopping destination. There’s even a 300-foot champagne bar that overlooks the platform and a clock that’s an exact replica of the stations original clock. What’s more, St. Pancras is set to become to main terminal for trains between Paris and London.

I, for one, would love to see train travel become more glamorous, but I’d also like it to stay affordable, if that’s possible.