China bullet train derails

[mooncliff]

Nasty accident. At least 30 dead and hundreds injured.

The rollout is being done too fast. Quantity is not enough if the quality is allowed to slip. There is too much pressure to build too much too fast. A lot of important engineering is not visible or obvious at all.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/crash-may.../169929-2.html

[GRG55]

Re: China bullet train derails

Nasty accident. At least 30 dead and hundreds injured.

The rollout is being done too fast. Quantity is not enough if the quality is allowed to slip. There is too much pressure to build too much too fast. A lot of important engineering is not visible or obvious at all.

http://ibnlive.in.com/news/crash-may.../169929-2.html

I guess we'll have to wait a bit longer before Chinese engineering and manufacturing prowess "takes over the world"?

"...The bullet trains has "generated more complaints than compliments because of continuous breakdowns in the first two weeks of operation", the state run China Daily said in its report about Saturday's crash.

One blogger said, "I believe this is an act of sabotage of foreign enemies who are not happy with the progress of China"...

...China has planned to build a 13,000-km high-speed railway network by 2012, 16000 km by 2020.

Plans are afoot to increase the speed of the trains to 500 kmph radically reducing the travel time between the cities...

...China has plans to cash in on the technology with plans to export it but the campaign came under cloud after Japanese company Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. threatened to take action if China files for patents on high-speed trains made using Japanese technologies.

Chinese engineers, however, denied it saying that their was 300 km high speed technology while Japan's was around 200 km..."

A little blurb about the shinkansen - note the speed and the accident record:

Japan's main islands of Honshu and Kyushu are served by a network of high speed train lines that connect Tokyo with most of the country's major cities. Japan's high speed trains (bullet trains) are called shinkansen (新幹線) and are operated by Japan Railways (JR).
Running at speeds of up to 300 km/h, the shinkansen is known for punctuality (most trains depart on time to the second), comfort (relatively silent cars with spacious, always forward facing seats), safety (no fatal accidents in its history) and efficiency.

[touchring]

Re: China bullet train derails

Chinese citizens will be the guinea pigs.

I guess we'll have to wait a bit longer before Chinese engineering and manufacturing prowess "takes over the world"?