| What do you think of high speed trains in China？ | |
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| Jun 8, 2011 01:54 |   |
 | Voting without time limit Note: Guest voter(s) are not displayed here. What do you think of high speed trains in China? |
| Jun 9, 2011 06:17 | #1 |
| Antwerp, Belgium, 09/06/2011, Hello, Good question! Theoretically, I like high speed trains, as they can compete with (polluting) domestic flights, and they give the railways a fresh, modern image! :-) However, in practice I generally don't take them... In the last 11 trips through China, I travelled almost 80.000 km by train, but less than 1000 of that was by high speed train... I think some sad mistakes were made, such as the fact that those trains usually stop in new stations in the middle of nowhere, far away from the city center. This way, you need at least an hour extra on either side of the trip, reducing much of the time gained by the higher speeds... Furthermore, the connections on which they are used are often badly chosen! Between Beijing and Shanghai for example! I used to be able to take a Z-train around 19:30, to arrive around 07:30 in the morning. The result is that I can do what I want on both the departure day as on the day of arrival, as I'm travelling while sleeping! Soon, the high speed line will open, reducing travel time to about 4 to 5 hours... Seems nice, but in practice completely useless, as you need to travel during the day. This way, you need to go to the station (1 hour), check-in and wait for the train (1 hour), travel by train (4 to 5 hours) and travel to the city center once again (1 hour), resulting in a time-loss of about 8 hours, from door to door. And all of it is during daylight hours! (For example from 10:00 to 18:00) So I'm not impressed... The result is that I loose time and money! :-/ In the future, I'll have to take the T-trains between Beijing and Shanghai, which are less attractive than the cancelled Z-trains on that connection... It would be something else when you could take a sleeper HST between - for example- Beijing and Guangzhou or even Kowloon, or between Beijing and Lanzhou, or further, in about 10 to 11 hours... That way, you can really win time, as those connections now take much longer than just one night... But usually the real comfort is more basic on such a HST... Last year I took such a HST between Shanghai and Beijing during the night (A Japanese style trainset), and I have to admit that I almost felt like a zombie after arrival in Beijing, whereas I usually felt great after a night in a smooth RW25T carriage of such a - now cancelled - Z-train on the same connection... :-) Another good example of HST trains is the service between Guangzhou and Shenzhen, which is more like a IC train in Europe. This connection is short and quick enough to be practical... :-) So my answer is not "yes" or "no", but "yes, if" or "No, unless"... :-) For the time being, I'll gladly continue to cross China in green trains, or in K, T or Z trains... ;-) Best regards, Joeri Vanvaerenbergh |
| Jun 13, 2011 23:06 | #2 |
| Bravo! I wish that I could experience Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Train but the tickets are really expensive. |
| Jun 26, 2011 03:20 | #3 |
| Fine, I just took Beiing-Tianjin Inter-city trains. It is really fast. The service on the train is also good. You can get free mineral water. Very nice! But I didn't find mineral water on the D trains between Xian and Baoji. |
| Jun 28, 2011 02:05 | #4 |
| Many airlines starts to sell discount air tickets in July. Some tickets just cost around CNY 400. train or plane? |
| Jul 7, 2011 04:51 | #5 |
| GUEST76218 | Trains are sensational. World leaders and some incredible engineering. What does concern me though is that in China maintenance seems to be a lost art. The practice with most things, houses, roads, trains(Not sue yet) seems to be to build them and let them deteriorate and the build a newer one when the time comes. I dont think this is now sustainable and am concerned about the long term safety. Have read a lot about the quality of concrete used in high speed rail and would wonder also about it's use in all the new high rise buildings. Many newer housing developments are made to look great before selling but after just a few years most I have seen have cracking spawling facades, paint or coatings peeling away, almost every fountain and pond in them is not working, electrical fittings are broken, fences and wooden benches are no longer mantained etc. Maintenance that is normally carried out in Western countries. I am from Australia and am in awe of your engineers and construction but am appalled by you safety standards and maintenance. |
| Jul 17, 2011 02:03 | #6 |
| GUEST3366 | Maybe China shouldn't have used high speed trains on very large scale. Just read the recent news about Beijing-Shanghai High Speed Trains and you will know what I am saying about. |
| Jul 24, 2011 02:12 | #7 |
| GUEST76218 | Very sorry to hear about the terrible train crash yesterday. My condolences go out to all who have relatives and friends involved and hope the injured make a full and speady recovery. As I posted previously guest 76218 I love train travel and have many times enjoyed train journeys in your country on my visits from Australia. China has achieved so much and my only concern has always been their qulity control and maintenance and safety priorities. As someone who is involved in the rail industry I find it very difficult to understand how the following train would not be stopped as the basic principle of all signalling sytems is to fail to a safe mode if power is lost. Hope that this tragedy is not in vain and China and the world can learn from this and enhance rail safety in the future. |
| Aug 18, 2011 02:04 | #8 |
| So far, China has recalled 54 high speed trains and begun to examine the problems. The speed of the high speed trains has been cut again but the ticket prices haven't dropped sharply. |
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