Fast Train From Bangkok To Beijing And Onwards To London

[londonthai]

there are plans for bangkok beijing fast train as well as beijing London line - to be completed sometimes after 2025.

http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/art...igh-speed-train

China has unveiled ambitious plans to export its rail technologies worldwide, including the creation of a global network that would slash train times between Beijing and London to as little as two days.

Just two years after completing its first high-speed link, the Chinese Ministry of Railways is considering plans to build two lines to Europe, one passing through India, Pakistan, the Middle East and terminating in London, while a second would head to Germany via Russia.

There are also plans for a third line extending south from China to connect Vietnam, Thailand, Burma and Malaysia.

Wang Mengshu, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, confirmed that work on the Southeast Asia line had already begun.

“We have also already carried out the prospecting and survey work for the European network, and central and eastern European countries are keen for us to start,” he said.

However negotiations among the various countries have only just started, and the lines are not likely to be completed before 2025.

If China is able to pull off this ambitious plan, it would be a huge boost to its rail industry and would help Beijing recoup the billions of yuan it has invested to transform its ageing national railways.

China’s Ministry of Railways is also going head-to-head with the Japanese for the US$8 billion which Barack Obama had earmarked to rebuild U.S. rail.

General Electric has already announced a partnership with the Chinese state group to manufacture equipment for U.S. high-speed rail projects.

[andD]

Pakistan, the Middle East by land hmm nice easy target for terrorists

[PoeDogg]

.....And full of infedel's......What could go wrong?

[nakachalet]

we would have to change our thinking and reasoning a tiny bit....

think of it as the YUAN train....

bringing everything imaginable to each and every country along its route.....

YUAN for the middle east as well as far east and europe....

why would any politically incorrect or politically incorrect wanna be.... refuses or destroys freebies coming in various shapes and forms and colors....

well.... being blessed with freebies.... may i caution you.... is extremely habit forming to the n^th degree....

and ultimately.... someone will have to pay for the freebies with all sorts of different thing.... including individual freedom and such....

Edited March 30, 2010 by nakachalet

[slim]

Bangkok to Beijing fast train?

When I can go from Khon Kaen to Bangkok in under 8 hours I'll believe it.

The trains over the River Kwai were quicker than the pathetic excuse for a rail system Thailand currently has.

[Trickcyclist]

Fabulous innovation. But we will we live to see and experience it?

[balo]

What's wrong with using planes ?

[Spee]

The "chunnel" is a minute fraction of the length, took 6 years to complete, came in at double the original budget and the word "profit" has yet to enter into the equation.

While I'm fascinated by the potential of the engineering solution, and with economical nonstop air routes available as a commodity, I'm sorry but I'm not a believer in seeing this done by 2050, much less 2025.

[cmdream]

Is this a joke?

[londonthai]

no, it's not a joke, the article is from 30.03, but there were much earlier articles http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...il-network.html from 10.03 and many more. In this torygraph article they claim to build all 3 lines within the next 10 years, if everything goes smoothly.

those lines would be part of the national networks, but partly financed and managed by the chinese.

train is cheaper and more comfortably (restaurant, shower, cinema) than airplane, and instead of 20-30kg luggage you can take 200-300kg if you need to, as well as your bike or car.

several times I did travel London - Bangkok for over 30h each way (there were the cheap fares with long 12h layovers during the high season or the planes were delayed by many hours, up to 12h).

some people do travel by train, because they like to, even if it's much more expensive than the plane (like the orient express bangkok penang KL singapore).

Edited March 31, 2010 by londonthai

[DennisYale]

The China is introducing new fastest train travel technology in the world. The new railway track has been laid down between Beijing and London and the journey will take only two hours to reach London from Beijing.

The china is advancing its railway technology to the whole world and the first fastest railway path will be starting from London and will extend other paths to different countries of the world making a largest railway network of the world.

Edited April 8, 2010 by LivinginKata

[bangkokrick]

I have personally been on the high speed inter city trains in China and they achieve speeds of anywhere between 240 to 300 Km's/hr. The Maglev train in shanghai is capable of even higher speeds than this, so the whole idea sounds feasible to me. The shape of the Loco is more akin to a rocket rather than that of a standard train.

Cheers, Rick

[Spee]

I have personally been on the high speed inter city trains in China and they achieve speeds of anywhere between 240 to 300 Km's/hr. The Maglev train in shanghai is capable of even higher speeds than this, so the whole idea sounds feasible to me.

I don't think there is any doubt the technology is feasible. The financial and construction aspects are a completely different matter. It's relatively easy in China where the central government rules over everything that lives and breathes. But when new construction projects in eastern and western Europe take years for approval because of the entrenched bureacracy, it makes project planning and execution a miserable nightmare. Also, do the math on the likely construction costs, revenue charting and years to profit. Would a venture like this ever run in the black without massive government subsidies? Not a chance. There is not a rail system in the entire world that is financially viable without government subsidies (perhaps some of the lines in Japan are an exception). In other words, those who don't use the trains pay in part for those who do.

[Bagwan]

The China is introducing new  fastest train travel technology in the world. The new railway track has been laid  down between Beijing and London and the journey will take only two hours to  reach London from Beijing.

The china is advancing its railway technology to the whole world and the first  fastest railway path will be starting from London and will extend other paths  to different countries of the world making a largest railway network of the  world.

The distance from Beijing to London is 8139 kilometres (5057 miles).  Anybody that thinks that a train will ever complete such a journey in two hours is insane. The speed of sound through the air is 768 miles per hour. The speed to be made good if the journey wrer to be completed in 2 hours would be about Mach 3.3. Assuming that there would be intermediate stops the train must be capable of cruising at at least Mach 4. The speed to be made good if the journey is completed in 2 days (48 hours) would be just over 105 miles per hour which should be achievable. 

I would bet the housekeeping money that tracks between Beijing and London that could support such high speeds have yet to be laid. I would suggest that lines to support such continuous high speeds will not be completed for at least a decade - if ever. 

About 60% of the world's railways were built, or later converted to, standard gauge which is 1.435 metres (4ft 8 1/2 inches) which was set by George Stephenson when building the Liverpool and Manchester railway which opened to the public 180 years ago.

 

[harrry]

The China is introducing new  fastest train travel technology in the world. The new railway track has been laid  down between Beijing and London and the journey will take only two hours to  reach London from Beijing.

The china is advancing its railway technology to the whole world and the first  fastest railway path will be starting from London and will extend other paths  to different countries of the world making a largest railway network of the  world.

The distance from Beijing to London is 8139 kilometres (5057 miles).  Anybody that thinks that a train will ever complete such a journey in two hours is insane. The speed of sound through the air is 768 miles per hour. The speed to be made good if the journey wrer to be completed in 2 hours would be about Mach 3.3. Assuming that there would be intermediate stops the train must be capable of cruising at at least Mach 4. The speed to be made good if the journey is completed in 2 days (48 hours) would be just over 105 miles per hour which should be achievable. 

I would bet the housekeeping money that tracks between Beijing and London that could support such high speeds have yet to be laid. I would suggest that lines to support such continuous high speeds will not be completed for at least a decade - if ever. 

About 60% of the world's railways were built, or later converted to, standard gauge which is 1.435 metres (4ft 8 1/2 inches) which was set by George Stephenson when building the Liverpool and Manchester railway which opened to the public 180 years ago.

 

Actually it is the romans that set the guage.

One side effect of this rapid rain will be an influx of Brits using their railpass.

[LaoPo]

What's wrong with using planes ?

1. A train can "load" lots of passengers,depending on it's lenght

2. A train can transport huge amounts of containers, cutting the travel distance from 4/5 weeks by sea to 7-10 days.... a HUGE advantage.

And, for the ones who doubt that the Bangkok - Beijing - Europe high speed train will ever come within 10-20 years should ask their parents, (if they're still alive...) if they would ever have dreamed - 50 years ago- of sitting on a Thai beach, sipping a cool drink after a mere 10-12 hours of flying....

The one who would have foretold so would have been put in jail.

Would anyone have believed the one who would tell you that you were be able to READ, within seconds.....what I just wrote, sitting thousands of miles/kilometers away from where you are ?

PS: I just read about the "2 hours" time frame from Beijing to London; I didn't read the article yet but that should read 2 days I think. More realistic.

At an average speed of 350 km/hour and a distance of some 10.000 km it would be a real speeding time of 28,5 hours but with stops etc. around 40 hours would be realistic.

Let's say 48 hours or 2 days.

EDIT; just read

"China has unveiled ambitious plans to export its rail technologies worldwide, including the creation of a global network that would slash train times between Beijing and London to as little as two days."

from:

http://www.breakingtravelnews.com/news/article/china-plans-beijing-to-london-high-speed-train/

LaoPo

Edited August 4, 2010 by LaoPo

[Miiyai46]

The Chinese govt should focus on improving their country rather than spending money in a unnecessary project.

They have already threatened the delicate Himalayan environment and Tibetan culture with the Beijing ~ Lhasa railway, do they really want to do the same with the rest of the world and filling all the countries with concrete as they are doing in China? I would say, no thank you!!!

Yes, it might hugely boost the local development and benefit part of the people but why should we keep destroying all countries true identity just because a bunch of people wants to get rich.

Cheers

[thomo]

I'd love to do the current route available - Up through Vietnam to Beijing, then the trans siberian all the way to moscow - do it slow over a few weeks of sitting watching the world drift by. Heaven. Hopefully will get to do it sometime in my life. Wouldn't be interested in rushing it at 350kmph. Give me a nice few weeks to fully enjoy it all.

[craigt3365]

With such rough territory to cover, I doubt it could be done in 2 days....especially during the monsoons or winter. BUT...what a great trip! I did the TransMongolian 3 years ago. Beijing to St. Petersburg. It took me 6 weeks, and was absolutely fantastic! My dream is to finish off the final legs. Moscow to maybe Spain, and then Beijing to Singapore....though the latter can't be done all by train....

[Lakegeneve]

There is an UN auspiced project to create Trans Asian Railway links, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trans-Asian_Railway, in mainland SE and E Asia to Europe. However progress is very slow in SE Asia with much more occuring in central asia.

At the current rate of progress most of Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, China, Singapore and Burma will be linked in 25-30 years (if all goes well).

However, there are many problems not the least being that most countries in SE Asia use narrow guage whilst China, Russia and India and Central Asia use standard or broad gauge. Russia and China have recently agree to upgrade the Trans Siberian line for faster speeds but that will take the better part of over a decade.

It took 5 yrs to build the 3km single track rail link from the Friendship Bridge into Laos. It will take 4 more years for it to be extended 7.5kms to the south of Vietiane. Cambodia railways are derelict and disused and a plan to rebuild sections will take many, many years to implement. Vietnam wants to build new lines to Phnom Pehn and into Laos but they will take at least 10-15 yrs and not be HSR (High Speed Rail).

All of that is assuming money is available and the political environment is cooperative. At the current rate, it is going to take decades to get some of these new lines between countries in place let alone build HSR lines. Vietnam was looking at 20 yrs to build a HSR line between HCM and Hanoi but this has just been scrapped due to prohibative costs.

China is massively and rapidly expanding its HSR lines in the last 10 yrs which is a smart investment in the future; "China now has 6 920 km of routes suitable for operation at 200 km/h and above, according to the Shanghai Railway Bureau, of which 1 995 km are suitable for 350 km/h. " (Source IRG 7 June 2010).

China wants to build HSR rail links to countries in the area and it wants to export its expertise, labour and rolling stock while offering to help fund new links. However, the propect of a BKK to Beijing HSR trip is fanciful and full of hot air as most of these articles are. Just look at how long it has taken Japan and France to build and expand their HSR networks. China may be able to rapidly build a large HSR network in China but in other countries (esp SE Asian based on current trends) it is an entirely different matter.

Even a 2 day trip between London and Beijing is a pipe dream. Perhaps, in 15-20 years time a 5-7 day trip may be possible but the main focus is for freight between asia and europe. HSR rail does make sense for such a long trip as the 1000km/3-4hr appears to be the economic limit for most HSR lines.

I'll be more than happy is one can take a train trip from BKK to HCM or into Yunnan province in 20 years but it won't be HSR.