Chinese state media say a high-speed railway linking the capital, Beijing, and the financial hub of Shanghai will open by the middle of this year, ahead of schedule. China began construction of the $33 billion rail link in 2008, and originally planned to open it in 2012. But the official Xinhua news agency quoted railways minister Liu Zhijun Tuesday as saying the launch date has been moved forward to June. He did not elaborate.
The new Beijing-Shanghai railway will cut the travel time for the 1,318-kilometer route to less than five hours, compared to the current 10-hour rail journey.
The high-speed rail link also will compete with Chinese domestic airlines that operate lucrative flights between the two cities. China’s high-speed rail network has grown rapidly in the past decade, reaching a length of 8,358 kilometers last year. Liu says the network will expand to 13,000 kilometers this year.
Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway
The Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway, also known as the Jinghu High-Speed Railway (simplified Chinese: 京沪高速铁路; traditional Chinese: 京滬高速鐵路), is a 1,318 kilometres (819 mi) long high-speed railway that will connect two major economic zones in the People’s Republic of China: the Bohai Sea Rim and the Yangtze River Delta. Construction began on April 18, 2008, and a ceremony to mark the completion of track laying was held on November 15, 2010. The line is scheduled to open in June 2011.
The railway line is the first one designed for 380 km/h commercial running. Once in operation, its train services will become the world’s fastest — the position currently occupied by the trains of the Wuhan–Guangzhou line, which opened in December 2009. The non-stop train from Beijing South to Shanghai Hongqiao is expected to finish the 1305 km journey in 3 hours, 58 minutes, averaging 329 km/h. The opening of the line is expected to lead to dramatic changes to the Beijing-Shanghai air corridor.
The Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway Co., Ltd. is in charge of construction. The project is expected to cost 220.9 billion yuan (about $32 billion). An estimated 220,000 passengers are expected to use the trains each day,[2] which is double the current capacity.[6] During peak hours there should be a train every five minutes.[6] 1060.6 km, or 80.5% of railway will be laid bridges. There are 244 bridges along the line. The 164-km long Danyang–Kunshan Grand Bridge is the longest bridge in the world.,[7] the 113.69-km long viaduct bridge between Langfang and Qingxian is the second longest in the world, and the viaduct between Beijing’s Fourth Ring Road and Langfang is the fifth longest. The line also includes 22 tunnels, totaling 16.1 km. 1196 km of the length is ballastless.
According to Zhang Shuguang, the deputy chief designer of China’s high-speed railway network, the continuous operating speed is expected to be 350 km/h (220 mph), with maximum operating speed up to 380 km/h (240 mph). The average commercial speed from Beijing to Shanghai will be 330 km/h (210 mph) and cut the train travel time from 10 hours to 4 hours. The rolling stock used on this line will be the CRH380 trains. CTCS-3 based train control systems will be used on the line, to fulfill the requirement of 380 km/h of running and the minimum train interval at 3 minutes. 16-car trainset will be used, the power of each trainset will be 20 MW, at capacity of about 1050 passengers, each passenger from Beijing and Shanghai consumes less than 80 kWh in average. ( source visitshanghai)
