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Monday 8 March 2010
China plans Asia-Europe rail network
China is negotiating to extend its high-speed railway network to up to 17 countries, a mainland rail expert who has taken part in every major express line project said yesterday.
China is negotiating to extend its high-speed railway network to up to 17 countries, a mainland rail expert who has taken part in every major express line project said yesterday.
Wang Mengshu, professor at Beijing Jiaotong University and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said most of these countries were in southeast and central Asia. Most are inadequately developed but rich in mineral and energy resources, and the talks involve a trade of resources for technology.
Wang said China had proposed three high-speed railway projects to these countries, with negotiations already at the technical stage. One possible network involves Southeast Asia, connecting Kunming , Yunnan, with Singapore, with service through Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia, though the exact routing is unclear.
Another network would start from Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It would go through Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and then possibly extend to Germany.
The third network would originate in Heilongjiang in the northeast and go north, cross Russia and aim for Western Europe.
These lines would be built using China’s high-speed railway standard. The maximum speed would be 350 kilometres per hour, with the most economical operating speed 200km/h.
China had promised to provide the technology, equipment and high-speed trains, Wang said, adding that Beijing would even cover the construction cost for countries willing to give it natural resources.
For instance, Myanmar has agreed to offer its rich reserves of lithium, a metal with wide industrial applications, in exchange for financial backing on high-speed railway construction.
Central Asian and Eastern European countries, already pumping natural gas to China via pipelines, would receive substantial financial support. Iran, Pakistan and India are also in negotiations with China to build high-speed rail lines, he said.
China and Russia had already agreed to build a high-speed line across Siberia, he added.
However, there were some technical issues to be overcome, Wang said. For example, trains in Kyrgyzstan run on a narrower gauge than those in China.
China wants the high-speed trains through these countries to run on the same gauge as on the mainland. It has convinced Vietnam to abandon its domestic standard for the Chinese one, but some countries have not yet agreed.
Such issues have slowed negotiations, meaning some of the rail lines - even if agreements are reached - could be finished as late at 2025, Wang said.
“China’s overseas high-speed rail projects serve two purposes. First, we need to develop the western regions. Secondly, we need natural resources,” he said. “We foresee that in the coming decades, hundreds of millions of people will migrate to the western regions, where land is empty and resources are untapped.
“With the fast, convenient transport of high-speed trains, people will set up mines, factories and business centres in the west. They will trade with Central Asian and Eastern European countries.
“Meanwhile, resources from those countries will stream into China to sustain development. I call it high-speed rail diplomacy.”
1 comment:
China plans Asia-Europe rail network
High-speed routes to tap resources
Stephen Chen in Beijing
08 March 2010
China is negotiating to extend its high-speed railway network to up to 17 countries, a mainland rail expert who has taken part in every major express line project said yesterday.
Wang Mengshu, professor at Beijing Jiaotong University and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said most of these countries were in southeast and central Asia. Most are inadequately developed but rich in mineral and energy resources, and the talks involve a trade of resources for technology.
Wang said China had proposed three high-speed railway projects to these countries, with negotiations already at the technical stage. One possible network involves Southeast Asia, connecting Kunming , Yunnan, with Singapore, with service through Vietnam, Thailand, Myanmar and Malaysia, though the exact routing is unclear.
Another network would start from Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. It would go through Central Asian countries such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, and then possibly extend to Germany.
The third network would originate in Heilongjiang in the northeast and go north, cross Russia and aim for Western Europe.
These lines would be built using China’s high-speed railway standard. The maximum speed would be 350 kilometres per hour, with the most economical operating speed 200km/h.
China had promised to provide the technology, equipment and high-speed trains, Wang said, adding that Beijing would even cover the construction cost for countries willing to give it natural resources.
For instance, Myanmar has agreed to offer its rich reserves of lithium, a metal with wide industrial applications, in exchange for financial backing on high-speed railway construction.
Central Asian and Eastern European countries, already pumping natural gas to China via pipelines, would receive substantial financial support. Iran, Pakistan and India are also in negotiations with China to build high-speed rail lines, he said.
China and Russia had already agreed to build a high-speed line across Siberia, he added.
However, there were some technical issues to be overcome, Wang said. For example, trains in Kyrgyzstan run on a narrower gauge than those in China.
China wants the high-speed trains through these countries to run on the same gauge as on the mainland. It has convinced Vietnam to abandon its domestic standard for the Chinese one, but some countries have not yet agreed.
Such issues have slowed negotiations, meaning some of the rail lines - even if agreements are reached - could be finished as late at 2025, Wang said.
“China’s overseas high-speed rail projects serve two purposes. First, we need to develop the western regions. Secondly, we need natural resources,” he said. “We foresee that in the coming decades, hundreds of millions of people will migrate to the western regions, where land is empty and resources are untapped.
“With the fast, convenient transport of high-speed trains, people will set up mines, factories and business centres in the west. They will trade with Central Asian and Eastern European countries.
“Meanwhile, resources from those countries will stream into China to sustain development. I call it high-speed rail diplomacy.”
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