Hey, you like speed? Well, China has the largest network of high-speed trains in the world.
It stretches a whopping 15,500 miles all over the country. But while that all sounds impressive,
I can't help but wonder why they’d spend a fortune on building such a vast bullet train
network when airplanes exist? Well, here’s what I found out!
Let's say you need to get from Beijing to Hong Kong. I bet the first idea that comes
to your mind is, "Why not catch a plane? It’ll be the fastest way to get there!" But are
you sure about that? First, you need to get to the Beijing airport. Then, you must find
your way in this huge multi-terminal transportation hub. After that, if you came to the airport
in advance, you'll have to wait a bit more, and only then... Uh, nope, not yet!
Chances are that your flight will be delayed. And then another problem is that airspace
in China is incredibly congested. Add to this a serious lack of landing slots, and what
do you get? Right, long tiresome delays… Anyway, your plane eventually takes off (yay!),
and in 3 hours and 40 minutes, you’re in Hong Kong. But it’s still too early to celebrate.
You'll arrive at the airport situated on an island, so you'll have to take one more train
to get into the city!
So now, what about bullet trains? First, most central train stations are downtown, so you
can easily reach them by subway. You don't need to go through extensive pre-boarding
security. And even if there are some delays, they don't happen too often and are much shorter
than those at airports. Also, with their wider seats, more legroom, and freedom to move around,
modern bullet trains offer their passengers more comfort. The same can’t be said about
planes, right? Now, when you arrive in Hong Kong, the train brings you to downtown Kowloon
Station, which is, shall we say, very convenient!
But the most important thing is the price! You can hand over as much as $500 for a Beijing-Hong
Kong plane trip. But the same journey by train will cost you much less: around $150. As for
the travel time, a train trip is 5 hours longer, that's true. But you should remember that
the 3 hours and 40 minutes it takes to get from Beijing to Hong Kong is only the duration
of the flight. If you add here all the delays, security checks, commute to the airport…commute
from the other airport. Well, you get the picture.
Nowadays almost all Chinese travelers pick high-speed trains over planes if they need
to travel less than 500 miles, or about the distance between San Diego and Sacramento,
California. While travel time doesn't differ that much (considering airport security checks,
train-airport-plane-train again), the train ticket price is usually twice or even three
times lower! For example, to get from Hong Kong to Changsha by plane, you need 3 hours
and 35 minutes and up to $330. But if you opt for the bullet train, you'll save both
time and money: the journey will take you 3 hours and 12 minutes and will cost just
about 76 bucks.
That's the reason why airlines must cut or even cancel their services that compete with
those of high-speed trains. For example, when a bullet train line was opened between Chengdu
and Xi'an, the leading airlines that served that route reduced daily flights between these
destinations from several dozens to 2 or 3 a day.
So, apparently, air travel in China isn't the cheapest or most convenient way to get
where you need. But what are the other benefits of building such an extensive high-speed train
network?
Well, how about the fact that construction costs in China are a lot lower than in the
rest of the world? See for yourself: most European countries have to spend approximately
$15 - 23 million to build 1 mile of high-speed rail. As for the US, the construction cost
here is even higher: about $33 million for a mile. At the same time, China spends just
$10 - 12 million for 1 mile of railroad. That probably explains why China has as many bullet
train lines as there are in the rest of the world combined!
But how does China manage to keep the costs so low when compared to the US and Europe?
Well, salaries in China are significantly lower than in the West, which means less money
goes to construction workers. Also, high-speed railroads are built with the help of local
materials, and that's great for both saving money and supporting the regional economy.
But the most important thing is that all railroad parts, such as tracks and embankments, are
all standardized. This means that producers can just press "copy-paste" to make the next
bridge part, which, as you understand, significantly cuts the costs.
What's more, Chinese high-speed rail lines include a lot of viaducts. Even being costly
themselves, they both save farmland and help trains move across rivers. On top of that,
there's one trick that makes their production cheaper too. Yep, it’s that standardization
thing yet again! What I mean is that you probably won't see a breathtaking variety of different
viaduct designs. Also, bridge beams are either 78 or 104 feet long, and no other choices
are available. By the way, all these beams are produced in temporary factories located
along the future railway, so there’s no need to transport the beams for distances
over 5 miles.
And it looks like China isn’t stopping any time soon when it comes to beefing up their
railway system. In fact, the country's bullet train network will soon move underwater! In
the nearest future, they're going to start the construction of a 48-mile-long high-speed
rail line between Zhoushan, an island city near China's east coast, and Ningbo, a port
city to the south of Shanghai. This rail link will include a 10-mile-long tunnel running
under the sea, making it the first underwater high-speed train tunnel in China. It’ll
also cut travel time between the cities from 4½ hours by bus or 2½ hours by car to an
80-minute-long comfortable journey by bullet train. The speed of these trains will reach
155 miles per hour, which is slower than some other bullet trains, but still!
And that's not all! China has even more astonishing plans: they want a sprawling high-speed rail
system to connect over 80% of all cities with more than 1 million inhabitants. That means
this network could reach a whopping 18,650 miles! For comparison, the Earth’s circumference
is 24,901 miles!
And last but not least, China doesn't only have the biggest high-speed train network
on the planet but also the world's fastest train! Shanghai Maglev (aka Shanghai Transrapid)
runs from Shanghai Pudong Airport to Longyang Road Station, where passengers can interchange
to Shanghai Metro Line 2 to get to the city center. The train's top speed reaches a mind-blowing
268 miles per hour, so it takes just 8 minutes to travel 19 miles! However, to get to or
from the airport, most passengers still prefer to use the subway since it’s a much cheaper
alternative to the Maglev train. But, hey, if time is money, then I’d probably be willing
to pay for the convenience! Plus, how cool would it be to look out the window while zooming
by at top speeds! If you like blurs!
Have you ever traveled by bullet train? Let me know down in the comments! If you learned
something new today, then give this video a like, share it with a friend, and here are
some more cool videos to check out from the Bright Side of life!