China to add new high-speed rail route

 

China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has given the go ahead for a major new high-speed rail link between Shanghai and Hangzhou.

The new route is part of a broader push to expand the country’s already vast rail network, news hub Travel Mole reports.

The 222.8km line will connect Shanghai East - a new station under construction near Pudong Airport - to Hangzhou in just 40 minutes.

Both cities are already linked by a high-speed train but the new line will cut nearly a third off the current fastest journey.

The $US9.35 billion project will serve nine stations. It includes new stops at Fengxian, Shanghai Jinshan, Pinghu City, and Linping.

Existing stations at Situan, Jiaxing South, Tongxiang, and Hangzhou West will be upgraded to handle the expected surge in traffic.

For Shanghai East, the project marks a significant milestone. The station is set to become a key transportation hub, linking Pudong Airport with high-speed rail for the first time.

The project will boost the airport’s competitiveness with its rivals in China, including Hong Kong.

The new line is expected to drive economic integration between Shanghai and Zhejiang province, supporting growth in the Yangtze River Delta, one of China’s most dynamic economic regions.

The NDRC also approved construction of a 234.5 km line in Tibet on the Sichuan-Tibet Railway. The $US3.1 billion project will initially open with five stations. It will improve access in a region where rail development can be logistically challenging.

Meanwhile, construction will begin next month on the Yining–Aksu line in Xinjiang, a region bordering Central Asia.

The 794km single-track electrified line will require six years to build and carry a price tag of $US5.3 billion. Designed for speeds up to 160 kmh, it will feature 24 stations, half of them equipped with passing loops to support mixed passenger and freight traffic.

In Australia, meanwhile, the interstate rail network remains prehistoric.

On the right track: Vietnam plots a railway revolution

Clunking through rural Vietnam on a slow-moving long distance train may soon be a thing of the past - although probably not soon enough.

I recently spent a whole lot of hours each way on a vey slow train from Hanoi to Hue, and then from Danang back to Hanoi.

I was in a four-berth sleeper cabin and it was an adventure, but not one I'd repeat in a hurry.

While the cabins have been tarted up, they are claustrophobic and the rolling stock rattles and clunks its way up and down the country. How fun your journey is might well depend on who your travelling companions are. Pot luck.

The various classes of travel on Vietnamese trains are soft sleepers, hard sleepers, soft seats, and hard seats, with soft sleepers as the most expensive.

Most tourists opt to journey in a soft sleeper because each berth has a pillow, sheet, a soft quilt, and a personal reading lamp. There are power points - and even wifi most of the time. Snacks are provided and you can buy food from vendors who roam up and down the carriages,

You need to stay on the lower berths in the daytime - and need the agility of a gymnast to scale an upper berth. Make sure to book a lower berth!

But now two sections of Vietnam's north-south high-speed railway - to connect Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City - are slated to begin construction in late 2027, according to the Ministry of Transport.

Vietnam's parliament this week approved a resolution supporting the $67 billion high-speed rail project.

The railway, Vietnam's most ambitious infrastructure project, will eventually run all the way from the capital Hanoi to the southern business hub of Ho Chi Minh City. The 1,541-km (958-mile) project is expected to be completed in 2035.

The Hanoi-Vinh and Nha Trang-HCMC sections will break ground in late 2027, and construction of the Vinh-Nha Trang segment is scheduled to start between 2028 and 2029.

The proposed railway is designed to support trains travelling at 350kph.

Ticket prices will be offered in three tiers, depending on the service class.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha has suggested extending the line beyond its current endpoints to include the northern province of Quang Ninh, home to UNESCO heritage site Ha Long Bay, and to the southernmost province of Ca Mau.

It can't come a moment too soon.