About Trains

Trains are great.  On my way to the ABA Forum planning retreat, Chicago O'Hare was shut down and disrupted for hours.  So instead of arriving in Albany, NY at 7:00 p.m. I wound up at Newark, NJ at 5:00 a.m. on 4 hours sleep in 48 hours.  I tried to rent a car for the three hour drive up to Lake George, but they wanted $800 for the week . . .and I revolted.   I walked across the track and took the train to New York's Grand Central, and transferred to "The Adirondak", train 69 heading for Montreal, at 8:15 a.m.   I thoroughly enjoyed the four hour trip up the Hudson river valley.  It made me wonder why we don't ride the train more often. 

Friday, July 1, 2011 was opening day for the $35.5 billion Bejing-Shanghai bullet train.  The plan is to run 90 trains per day each way, meaning a train will leave every 10 minutes for 16 hours per day.  Wow!  The initial forecast is to move 180,000 passengers each day (about half of the BART system in San Francisco, for example).  At 819 miles, this is the longest high speed rail line in the world. The trip will cost $86 for coach, one way, about half the cost of  flight.   The trip takes less than five hours, no longer than driving to the airport, waiting, and getting to downton Bejing or Shanghai at the other end with scrunched knees; or are Chinese airline coach seats better than ours?

China is undergoing a steel rail boom.  Total investment in new rail lines has grown from $14 billion in 2004 to $26.2 billion in 2007.  In response to the global economic recession, while we wring our hands and shy from increased government involvement,  the Chinese government has accelerated the pace of HSR expansion to stimulate economic growth.  Total investments in new rail lines including HSR reached $49.4 billion in 2008 and $88 billion in 2009. In all, the state plans to spend $300 billion to build a 25,000km (16,000mi) HSR network by 2020.[1]  Jobs created have been 100,000 per year. 

Simens, Bombardier, and Kawasaki are all reported to be involved with technology transfer agreements.  Chinese indigenous technology is quickly catching up, and making its own innovations.  The projects are funded by state owned banks and financial institutions, with the money going to the Ministry of Railways and local governments.  To date, none of the lines are showing a profit. 

Here is a map of the planned railway system. 

If anyone has experience with major project delivery agreements in China, that would be an interesting post for the Triclinium. 

In the meantime, California is working on its own 800 mile high speed rail line from Los Angeles to San Francisco, with service to be expanded to San Diego and Sacramento.  The Chinese are in the hunt to get involved with their surplus cash and rapidly acquired technological expertise. 

Are we paying attention yet?
____
fn 1.  This is a very substantial Wikipedia entry on high speed rail in China.  Who does this stuff?!