China's railway to initiate two more speed-increases in 2003, 2005

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 ◆ China's railway to initiate two more speed-increases in 2003, 2005

A top railway official said Thursday that China will modify 3,000 kilometres of track by 2005 to make the line suitable for even faster trains.

In three years, high-speed trains will be able to travel at 120 to 160 kilometres per hour along 16,000 kilometres of China's tracks.

Wang Linshu, general engineer of the Ministry of Railways, said at the Modern Railways 2002 Exhibition Thursday that the ministry was well prepared in terms of both having the technology and putting it into practice.

The official said people would be able to travel by rail in one night between most Chinese cities less than 500 kilometres apart. Cities between 2,000 and 2,500 kilometres apart would be one day's rail journey from one another.

China implemented four major railway speed-up campaigns in 1997, 1998, 2000 and last year, adapting track to make it suitable for trains travelling at between 90 and 120 kilometres per hour.

Wang said China's vast western regions would get priority in railway construction over the next few years, some 2,000 kilometers of track being laid across the region.

The railway ministry said that China will spend 350 billion yuan (US$42.3 billion) on railway construction during the current 10th Five Year Plan period (2001-05) in a bid to achieve the international standards reached at the end of the 20th century and to reach even more advanced levels in some key railway sectors by 2015.

Wang said that, by 2005, China would have total of 75,000 kilometres of railway track.

The Modern Railways 2002 Exhibition opened in Beijing on Wednesday. In addition to forums on the development of China's railway industry,international railway-instrument manufacturers will display the latest in railway technology.

The exhibition has attracted more than 150 businesses from a dozen countries, including Canada, France, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States.

The Japanese railway sector has brought a large number of railway companies to the exhibition, in an indication of their high hopes of becoming involved in China's railway market. Japan built the world's first high-speed railway -- the Shinkansen. The train has run at speeds of 300 kilometres an hour for 39 years without a single person being killed.

Yasuki Kurasawa, administrative director of the Japanese Overseas Rolling-Stock Association, said: "We hope to participate in the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway project, and we hope China will have its own Shinkansen.''

He said he believed that China's railway sector will become accessible to foreign businesses now that the country is in the World Trade Organization.

Siemens Transportation Systems Group from Germany showed a series of model trains to attract visitors, such as the new European "concept train'' and a newly designed high-speed train.

China has decided to use advanced technology for its Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway project, which will cover 1,300 kilometres of track and has attracted worldwide attention.

Chinese railway experts said that, no matter what kind of technology is used, whether maglev or orbit, the project will tell the world that it is no longer a dream for China's railways to reach world standards.