International High-Speed Rail Update (Part 1)

American transportation advocates working to modernize our country’s transportation network often point to other countries’ successes with high-speed rail, modern conventional trains and expansive rail transit networks.  Of course, foreign high-speed rail networks are not static, nor was it developed without its own trials and tribulations.

With that in mind, it might prove useful to do a brief overview of the recent happenings abroad in the high-speed rail sector.

Middle East

Israel’s government has announced a plan to move forward on the development of a high-speed rail corridor between its populous coastal city of Tel Aviv and a southern port city:

Israel’s cabinet on [the morning of February 4 approved] construction of a new high-speed train line between Tel Aviv and the southern port city of Eilat.

The electrified rail line will reach top speeds of 186 miles (300 km) per hour, allowing it to complete the trip in two and a half hours. The 220-mile long (350 km) route will include 63 bridges and five tunnels.

“For 63 years, there has been talk about linking up the periphery to the center, but nothing has been done,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that the new rail line would “change the face of the country.”

The line will carry freight, as well as passengers; Israeli officials view it as an overland alternative to the Suez Canal, which is vulnerable to political instability in Egypt.

The royal family in Saudi Arabia has pushed forward the development of a national network of high-speed train network that is scheduled to begin operations within three years.  The desert country’s rulers hope the 125 mph to 186 mph passenger trains—with their freight counterparts—will spark an industrial revolution in the resource-rich country.

“We currently have 1,200 km of rail lines, and when all these projects are completed in three or four years, we will have 7,000 km,” [said Abdul Aziz M. Al-Hokail, president of the Saudi Railways Organization]. “I can’t tell you the total costs of these projects, but it will spawn new industries, new cities, new employment opportunities, and there is every possibility that one will one day be able to take a train from Jeddah to cities in Europe.”

…

These networks will give Saudis low-cost access to neighboring Gulf Cooperation Council and European markets. They will also shift [truck] transport which damages road infrastructure to rail transport. More competition and modes of transport will benefit all aspects of the economy and attract additional foreign direct investment because rail transport is part of the criteria for foreign companies. We will have workshops, factories and training institutes. Who will benefit from them? The private sector. You have to remember that rail networks lead to industrial revolutions. This has happened in Europe and the United States when trains were introduced in the 1800s. They brought coal and steel to all areas and then large factories were built. Industry is wholly dependent on transportation of goods and trains are the best means of transportation. They are cheaper, environment-friendly, safe and reliable.

[The introduction to the interview comes across as a piece of obvious PR for the projects, but the extended Q&A is well worth the read, if only for the fascinating details on the unique difficulties—and benefits—of building a high-speed train through a giant desert.]

Asia

China continues to be the world’s most aggressive builder of high-speed rail systems, although their ambitions have been drastically reduced in the face of concern over whether or not system safety has been compromised for the sake of speed of construction; a 300 meter section of new rail bed was washed out in heavy rains just this month (with no accidents resulting), renewing questions over what construction methods were employed.  It will be hard for an American audience to comprehend what a “drastically reduced” high-speed rail development program looks like in China, with plans to add almost 4,000 miles of new railway in 2012—a full 2,175 miles of which will be high-speed:

“[O]nly nine new railways would be commissioned this year, compared to 70 last year.

…

By the end of this year, China’s high-speed network is likely to stretch to over 6,000 miles, transporting hundreds of millions of passengers in spacious long-nosed bullet trains. The 819-mile journey from Beijing to Shanghai, more than twice the distance from London to Edinburgh, now takes under five hours.

The goal will continue to be to connect the country’s far flung populace to Beijing.  One line will stretch south to the port city of Shenzhen (which neighbors Hong Kong), reducing travel time between the two cities from 23 hours to eight.  The government is also looking to develop central, land-locked regions:

The World Bank has approved a US$ 200 million loan to support a new rail line from China’s capital Beijing to the country’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region that is budgeted to cost a total of US$ 4.5 billion.

The first part of the project will see the construction of a 286 km [178 miles] double track, electrified, passenger-dedicated high-speed rail line between the northern cities of Zhangjiakou and Hohhot, including construction of three new railway stations and the renovation of two existing stations.

Construction is expected to start in June 2013, and the line is scheduled to open to traffic in June 2017.

The new passenger lines will free up freight rail capacity on existing rights of way.

Earlier last fall, officials at the Indian Railway—a governmental department of the Ministry of Railways—announced their intentions to introduce high-speed service to the agency’s extensive rail network, which carries more than 30 million passengers every day.  While the network extends across 28 of the nation’s 30 states, the high-speed service would be initially introduced in the densest metropolitan corridors.

The Indian Railways is finalizing a draft legislation for a project that envisages running trains at a speed of 300 km per hour [186 mph] speed on some select routes across the country. The bill is likely to be introduced in the winter session of Parliament.

“We are in the process of setting up the National High-Speed Rail Authority, an autonomous body to implement and monitor the high-speed train project in the country and for this a legislation is required to set up the authority,” a senior Railway Ministry official was reported saying.