China to Finance London - New Delhi - Peking High Speed Rail System

[Aetius Romulous]

"China is in negotiations to build a high-speed rail network to India and Europe with trains capable of running at more than 320 kilometres per hour within the next 10 years."

Is this for real? Has anybody heard of this before?
Blows my mind....

New high-speed rail network could trump air travel

[D-Mack]

Re: China to Finance London - New Delhi - Peking High Speed Rail System

reminds me of the Berlin Baghdad railway and WW1

and we know how that played out

Is China's Politburo spoiling for a showdown with America?


The long-simmering clash between the world's two great powers is coming to a head, with dangerous implications for the international system.


By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
Published: 5:33PM GMT 14 Mar 2010


China has succumbed to hubris. It has mistaken the soft diplomacy of Barack Obama for weakness, mistaken the US credit crisis for decline, and mistaken its own mercantilist bubble for ascendancy. There are echoes of Anglo-German spats before the First World War, when Wilhelmine Berlin so badly misjudged the strategic balance of power and over-played its hand.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/7442926/Is-Chinas-Politburo-spoiling-for-a-showdown-with-America.html

[MulaMan]

Re: China to Finance London - New Delhi - Peking High Speed Rail System

It blows your mind because...

...you are a neo-American!

and no longer understand the concept of progress, innovation, education, ....

but only understand fear, lack of change, status quo, military flag waving, bible pounding, asking God for money, watching TV all weekend, and life back in the 20th century

too bad the rest of world is competing for the 21st century... oh well.

[c1ue]

Re: China to Finance London - New Delhi - Peking High Speed Rail System

Is this for real? Has anybody heard of this before?
Blows my mind....

New high-speed rail network could trump air travel

Funny you should mention that...

http://www.itulip.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7555

Russia is a great nation with a history of adaptation to difficult circumstances.

The present is no exception, but the end of the worldwide credit bubble does not have to result in an end to Russian prosperity.

While Russia has - and will continue to have - a pivotal role in supplying oil, natural gas, and other commodities to the world, it is now time for the next step: to unleash the full capability of the Russian people and the entirety of Russia's vast interior.

How to do this? By looking to the new technologies in transportation and communications that will provide the spur for the next era in development.

A brief background:

The past 500 years has been one where shipping has been the backbone of world trade. Shipping costs are fractions of any other: 0.007 cents per ton-mile vs. 0.025 cents for railroad, 0.251 cents for trucks on roads, and 0.588 cents for air.

Railroads were the next major transport revolution - providing a previously unheard of cost reduction in land transport.

Automobiles and airplanes were the next major revolution - providing respectively convenience and speed albeit at a relatively high price.

Due to the cost structures, sea transport is still the most vital - and thus control of the shipping lanes is vital for all nations engaged in international trade and thus in international relations.

With the advent of new technology, however, there is now an opportunity to usher in the next stage. This opportunity exists because Russia is a nation which extends nearly the full latitude of the Eurasian continent whereupon the bulk of the world's population resides.

Although there are rail networks such as the Trans-Siberian rail line, the distances involved, transit times, and costs are such that tremendous overhead burdens are imposed on transport and communications from the full reach of the Russian nation to its ports in the West (St. Petersburg), South (Sevastopol), and East (Vladivostok) as well as to the national and mercantile capitals.

The technology which can transform this is maglev. While maglev is being used in Europe to provide luxury high speed transport for relatively short distances, it is for long distance overland travel in which Maglev can truly shine.

Maglev operating costs per ton mile are far less than automobile and only somewhat more than rail: perhaps 7 cents per ton mile in a developed country. For Russia which has tremendous energy resources - especially in the interior, this cost can be expected to be lower.

But Maglev has the benefit of being 10 times faster than rail or automobile and on par with air transport.

Secondly a project to install major maglev trunk lines along existing major rail lines would be able to trivially install both power and fiber optic communications lines.

Certainly the costs are high: an estimated $25,000 per kilometer in developed nations.

Laying fiber optic cables normally costs no more than $7,300 per rural kilometer - again for developed nations.

Actual cost for Russia would likely be lower - perhaps two thirds, and perhaps much less due to confluence of effort.

Using the 9,200 kilometer Trans-Siberian railroad as an example and the two thirds maglev plus fiber optic installation figure, the resulting amount is less than two hundred billion dollars.

A lot of money, true, but perhaps a small price to pay to unlock the full potential of Russia.

Being able to travel (and transport freight) from one end of Russia to the other in 7 hours, as well as providing broadband internet access across all of Russia ...

This would be a revolution without bullets.

The difficulty with going the 'Southern route' with high speed rail is that the costs of going through the extensive mountains from Turkey through Iran, Afghanistan, etc will be astronomical - even excluding the instability in the region.

The 'Southern route' also notably lacks security as defined as distance from blue water - i.e. the US Navy.

[Starving Steve]

Re: China to Finance London - New Delhi - Peking High Speed Rail System

What happens if the Pejing to London maglev train, whilst travelling through Siberia at 400 kph (about 250 mph), encounters a herd of reindeer crossing the railroad tracks? Or am I not supposed to ask those kind of Joe Six-pack type of questions?

[GRG55]

Re: China to Finance London - New Delhi - Peking High Speed Rail System

What happens if the Pejing to London maglev train, whilst travelling through Siberia at 400 kph (about 250 mph), encounters a herd of reindeer crossing the railroad tracks? Or am I not supposed to ask those kind of Joe Six-pack type of questions?

That's why it costs $25,000 per kilometre to build these things. They have to install lots of "Watch for Train" warning signs in all the official languages...including reindeer...;)

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: China to Finance London - New Delhi - Peking High Speed Rail System

What happens if the Pejing to London maglev train, whilst travelling through Siberia at 400 kph (about 250 mph), encounters a herd of reindeer crossing the railroad tracks? Or am I not supposed to ask those kind of Joe Six-pack type of questions?

High speed rail, including maglev, is always isolated from the surrounding terrain, either elevated, tunneled or walled off. For the sake of both the train and the reindeer, the two should never meet when the train is moving at speed.

[konj]

Re: China to Finance London - New Delhi - Peking High Speed Rail System

Actually, chances of encountering "a herd of reindeer crossing the railroad" will be exactly nil. Unless of course the Chinese fancy laying the rails in the permafrost of the northern Siberia near the arctic circle. That is where reindeer tend to live...

Stalin had little luck there. Who knows maybe the mighty China can pull it off. They could definitely drop a pretty yuan on it...

[GRG55]

Re: China to Finance London - New Delhi - Peking High Speed Rail System

Actually, chances of encountering "a herd of reindeer crossing the railroad" will be exactly nil. Unless of course the Chinese fancy laying the rails in the permafrost of the northern Siberia near the arctic circle. That is where reindeer tend to live...

Stalin had little luck there. Who knows maybe the mighty China can pull it off. They could definitely drop a pretty yuan on it...

Steve was worried about the vacationing reindeer...you know, the one's that migrate south to warmer climes for a couple of weeks every winter to work on their tans...

[konj]

Re: China to Finance London - New Delhi - Peking High Speed Rail System

That would be one impressive migration I say...

[Aetius Romulous]

Re: China to Finance London - New Delhi - Peking High Speed Rail System

It blows your mind because...

...you are a neo-American!

and no longer understand the concept of progress, innovation, education, ....

but only understand fear, lack of change, status quo, military flag waving, bible pounding, asking God for money, watching TV all weekend, and life back in the 20th century

too bad the rest of world is competing for the 21st century... oh well.

Maybe.

Or perhaps I was just marveling at the extent to which China - after 3,000 years of isolation - is suddenly willing to engage the world and put its considerable economic might behind the task.

This represents a mighty shift in a long standing cultural policy.

I fully understand how you misinterpreted this thought as brain dead ignorance on my part. Sorry about that. I'll endeavor to be more clear now that I know someone of superior intellect is reading these things. Who knew?

[jpatter666]

Re: China to Finance London - New Delhi - Peking High Speed Rail System

Maybe.

Or perhaps I was just marveling at the extent to which China - after 3,000 years of isolation - is suddenly willing to engage the world and put its considerable economic might behind the task.

This represents a mighty shift in a long standing cultural policy.

I fully understand how you misinterpreted this thought as brain dead ignorance on my part. Sorry about that. I'll endeavor to be more clear now that I know someone of superior intellect is reading these things. Who knew?

Aetius -- don't worry about Mula, he's a resident troll, looks for excuses to blow off on Americans or Christians.

Besides, he couldn't even read your post which clearly shows:

Location: Canada

[GRG55]

Re: China to Finance London - New Delhi - Peking High Speed Rail System

That would be one impressive migration I say...

Almost as impressive as the annual winter migration of Europeans that used to visit Dubai...:cool:

[Spartacus]

Not 3000 years ... I have the impression that Chinese used to be quite the world travelers.

I'm trying to remember the name of a book I saw recently at the Chapters next to Scotiabank cinema

It was about a huge fleet, commissioned by the emperor & led by a general (but it was not a military excursion) on the order of 100 very large ships that sailed from China and circumnavigated the globe, allegedly including North and South America.

This was around 100 years before Marco Polo.

China - after 3,000 years of isolation - is suddenly willing to engage the world and put its considerable economic might behind the task.

Any new thoughts on Toronto real estate? Prices up 5% over last year? (heard on the radio, don't know what area - Beaches I bet)

The recent changes had no effect on cooling off the market?

I stare agahast and incredulous at the stats, mouth hanging open

[Aetius Romulous]

Re: China to Finance London - New Delhi - Peking High Speed Rail System

Not 3000 years ... I have the impression that Chinese used to be quite the world travelers.

I'm trying to remember the name of a book I saw recently at the Chapters next to Scotiabank cinema

It was about a huge fleet, commissioned by the emperor & led by a general (but it was not a military excursion) on the order of 100 very large ships that sailed from China and circumnavigated the globe, allegedly including North and South America.

This was around 100 years before Marco Polo.



Any new thoughts on Toronto real estate? Prices up 5% over last year? (heard on the radio, don't know what area - Beaches I bet)

The recent changes had no effect on cooling off the market?

I stare agahast and incredulous at the stats, mouth hanging open

"1421 - The Year That China Discovered The World", Gavin Menzies.

That fleet was called back, scuttled, and the ship yards burned because it was out of harmony with China's insular heritage. It was a brief spark which supports my point that this really is unprecedented.

I'm a some way north of Toronto, however the market overall is good it seems. We recently sold our large executive waterfront close to asking, 7 digits. On the other hand, there seems to me to be a great deal of unemployment, and I have seen a few bank repos that I have not seen here before.

Canada appears to be at the center of a tornado - storm all around but still tranquil. Few people here understand the extent of the issues beyond their unperturbed Canadian lives. It's weird.

I know the numbers are heating up a bit, but there is no discernible change in the atmosphere that I can tell. Just business as usual if not a little tighter.