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21/11/2016

How Dangerous Are India’s Railways? – The Numbers – Briefly – WSJ

The derailment of a train in northern India that killed more than 130 people highlights the dangers and challenges along the country’s rail network.

Accidents on the rail system resulted in more than 25,000 deaths in 2014, according to the latest statistics available.

While the cause of Sunday’s incident isn’t yet known, it again draws the spotlight onto the country’s rickety rail system.

So how dangerous is traveling on the country’s trains? Here are the numbers.

28,360     The number of railway accidents in India in 2014. Though that was a decrease of 9.2% from a year earlier, 25,006 people died. That figure is much higher than the 768 deaths recorded on America’s railways the same year.

17,480     The number of railway accidents that were reported to be due to someone falling from a train or a “collision with people at track.” In India, passenger trains are often full to bursting, with people hanging out of windows and doors.  Pedestrians also often cross tracks by foot. The government has sought to raise awareness about the proper use of level crossings and the dangers of strolling near railway lines.

5,024     The number of people who died in railway accidents in Maharashtra in 2014. The western state is home to Mumbai, the country’s financial capital, which has some of the most crowded and dangerous suburban trains.

442     The number of rail-construction projects active in India as of March 2014. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made modernizing the ageing network a priority,  and has made building a high-speed corridor a pet project.

$16 billion     The amount a government audit found that delays and poor planning had caused costs on the 442 rail projects to balloon.

40%     The proportion of the more than 31,000 railway crossing that are unmanned. Those level crossing contribute to about 40% of train accidents, according to a government news release.

Source: How Dangerous Are India’s Railways? – The Numbers – Briefly – WSJ

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23/05/2016

Doubling down | The Economist

“A COLOSSAL roller-coaster” is how a senior engineer described it. He was talking about the railway that China plans to build from the lowlands of the south-west, across some of the world’s most forbidding terrain, into Tibet. Of all the country’s railway-building feats in recent years, this will be the most remarkable: a 1,600-kilometre (1,000-mile) track that will pass through snow-capped mountains in a region racked by earthquakes, with nearly half of it running through tunnels or over bridges. It will also be dogged all the way by controversy.

Chinese officials have dreamed of such a railway line for a century. In 1912, shortly after he took over as China’s first president, Sun Yat-sen called for a trans-Tibetan line, not least to help prevent Tibet from falling under the sway of Britain (which had already invaded Tibet from India a decade earlier). Mao Zedong revived the idea in the 1950s. In the years since, many exploratory surveys have been carried out.

But it is only after building the world’s second-longest railway network—including, in the past few years, by far the biggest high-speed one—that China’s government has felt ready to take on the challenge. It had a warm-up with the construction of the first railway into Tibet, which opened in 2006. That line, connecting Lhasa with Golmud in Qinghai province to the north (and extended two years ago from Lhasa to Tibet’s second city, Shigatse), was proclaimed to be a huge accomplishment. It included the highest-altitude stretch in the world, parts of it across permafrost. It required ingenious heat-regulating technology to keep the track from buckling. Advertisement: Replay Ad China further honed its skills with the opening of a high-speed line across the Tibetan plateau in 2014—though in Qinghai province, rather than in Tibet proper. But neither track had anything like the natural barriers that the Sichuan-Tibet line will face. It will be just under half as long again as the existing line to Tibet, but will take three times longer to build. The second line’s estimated cost of 105 billion yuan ($16 billion) is several times more than the first one. Lhasa is about 3,200 metres (10,500 feet) higher than Chengdu, yet by the time the track goes up and down on the way there—crossing 14 mountains, two of them higher than Mont Blanc, western Europe’s highest mountain—the cumulative ascent will be 14,000 metres. The existing road from Chengdu to Lhasa that follows the proposed route into Tibet is a narrow highway notable for the wreckage of lorries that have careered off it. Some Chinese drivers regard the navigation of Highway 318 as the ultimate proof of their vehicles’, and their own, endurance. Work on easier stretches of the railway line, closest to Lhasa and Chengdu respectively, began in 2014. Now the government appears to be getting ready for the tougher parts. A national three-year “plan of action”, adopted in March for major transport-infrastructure projects, mentions the most difficult stretch: a 1,000km link between Kangding in Sichuan and the Tibetan prefecture of Linzhi (Nyingchi in Tibetan). The plan says this should be “pushed forward” by 2018. It will involve 16 bridges to carry the track over the Yarlung Tsangpo river, known downstream as the Brahmaputra. Dai Bin of Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu says the Chengdu-Lhasa line could be finished by around 2030.

Source: Doubling down | The Economist

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17/09/2015

Leaving Las Vegas: Chinese state railway companies to build US high-speed link from ‘Sin City’ to LA | South China Morning Post

Work on joint venture for 370km high-speed line linking Las Vegas to Los Angeles could start in 2016 and is part of mainland’s pursuit of overseas high-speed rail deals

A consortium of Chinese state rail companies has teamed up with an American company to build a high-speed rail line in the United States, with work possibly starting as early as September 2016.

It is the latest push by Beijing to export its high-speed rail technology and tap lucrative offshore markets.

China Railway International USA and the private rail venture, XpressWest, said in a joint statement on Thursday that they would form a joint venture to accelerate the launch of a high-speed rail linking the western cities of Las Vegas with Los Angeles.

The deal marks the latest attempt in China’s increasingly aggressive pursuit of overseas high-speed rail deals after the country built the world’s longest network in less than a decade.

Beijing recently clinched contracts in Russia, although it has faced hurdles in Mexico and Indonesia because of bureaucratic reversals of decisions in those countries.

XpressWest, a private venture of a Las Vegas-based hotel and casino developer, was given approval in 2011 to build and run the 370km high-speed line, according to its website.

The project has US$100 million in initial capital, the companies said in the statement, released at a government-organised forum before President Xi Jinping’s forthcoming visit to the US. China Railway International USA is owned by a consortium made up of subsidiaries from the mainland state companies China Railway Group, CRRC Corp, China State Construction Engineering Corp and China Railway Signal & Communication Corp.

Gary Wong, an analyst at Guotai Junan Securities, estimated that the XpressWest project was worth US$5 billion, which he said would likely offer the many Chinese companies involved little financial benefit.

However, it was significant as a deal because it would help open the undeveloped US high-speed rail market, Wong added.

“If this opens up the United States market for them, opportunities for future expansion will increase,” Wong said. “And if [their technology] is used in the United States, it will be easier for them to sell to other countries.”

 

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12/05/2015

Indian rail projects outweigh rivalry before Modi visit to China | Reuters

Beijing has been pushing India to accelerate work on a multi-billion dollar rail link from New Delhi to Chennai ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s visit to China this week, as the Asian giants put economic ties before regional rivalries.

China, which is conducting a feasibility study into a $36 billion bullet train project from the capital in the north to Chennai in the south, has asked for work to begin on a pilot project covering part of the route, officials said.

The two sides have also agreed to speed up implementation of a shorter high-speed rail corridor from Chennai to Bengaluru, as China seeks to cash in on Modi’s vision of modernizing a creaking train system that 25 million people use daily.

Indian Railways Logo

Indian Railways Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

 

Such cooperation could help ease tensions between the neighbors caused by a Himalayan border dispute and Chinese naval forays into the Indian Ocean as well as India’s strategic tie-ups with Japan and the United States.

Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to address the border issue, a major irritant that overshadowed Xi’s visit to New Delhi last year and has proved impossible to resolve despite 13 years of negotiations.

But progress on the economic front is more likely, officials said, as China eyes a greater share of India’s $2 trillion economy. Thanks in part to a statistical revision, India is now the world’s fastest growing major economy, outstripping China.

Modi, who arrives in China on Thursday, appears happy to encourage such investment, despite reservations among India’s powerful security community which has not forgotten a brief border war the countries fought in 1962.

“Modi is abandoning the old approach to China,” said C. Raja Mohan, an influential Indian foreign policy analyst.

“He has recognized that India can’t construct a serious business relationship with China, the world’s second largest economy and a major exporter of capital, by giving the security establishment a veto over economic policy,” he added.

$10 BILLION IN DEALS

China’s ambassador to India, Le Yucheng, told CNN-IBN television that deals worth $10 billion were expected to be signed during Modi’s three-day visit.

He urged the Indian government to focus on cutting red tape to ease investment flows, the channel said in a press release.

During Xi’s visit to India last year, China announced $20 billion in investments over five years, including setting up two industrial parks.

Since then progress has been slow, in part because of the difficulties Modi has had in getting political approval for easier land acquisition laws.

Only a fifth of the necessary land has been acquired for a $5 billion industrial park in the western city of Pune that the two sides announced last year, said a Chinese official.

In Modi’s home state of Gujarat, only 28 percent of the land has been purchased for a proposed $1.8 billion Chinese-built industrial park in Vadodara.

That is not likely to blunt China’s appetite for investments in India, according to experts.

“China’s attitude toward this investment is extremely positive,” said Ma Jiali, executive deputy director of the China Reform Forum’s Centre for Strategic Studies and an India expert.

via Indian rail projects outweigh rivalry before Modi visit to China | Reuters.

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25/02/2015

India to embark on rail investment splurge thanks to cheap oil | Reuters

India’s decrepit state-run train services stand to receive at least a 25 percent boost in investment to over $9 billion, funded solely by falling fuel costs, according to officials familiar with a railway budget set to be unveiled on Thursday.

A worker cleans a railway track at a railway station in Kolkata October 2, 2014. REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri/Files

The world’s fourth largest rail network could get even more if Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes it a priority, as China did during its rapid economic growth over the past two decades.

There are high hopes that his nine-month-old government will plough money into investment in infrastructure needed to haul the economy out of a rut when it presents its first annual federal budget on Saturday.

The separate rail budget – a relic of the country’s British colonial past – could show how far Modi’s India is prepared to drive investment in a vital transport sector.

“The fall in diesel prices and a pick-up in freight earnings have given us a golden chance to raise investments,” said one government official.

Falling oil prices have saved billions of dollars in subsidy spending across the economy, but Finance Minister Arun Jaitley is under pressure to prevent the fiscal deficit from busting a target of 3.6 percent of gross domestic product.

Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu, according to the officials, has factored in savings from

via India to embark on rail investment splurge thanks to cheap oil | Reuters.

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12/02/2015

High-speed trains steer to overseas destinations[1]- Chinadaily.com.cn

Chinese high-speed train companies are eyeing more contracts in overseas markets.

High-speed trains steer to overseas destinations

“The US will be the next strategic focus for us, after successfully winning the Boston contract,” Yu Weiping, vice-president of China CNR Corp, told China Daily on Wednesday.

CNR won a 4.12 billion yuan ($659 million) contract last year to supply metro cars to Boston’s subway system, the first US rolling stock order with a Chinese company.

“At least part of the metro cars will be assembled locally,” said Yu, who is in charge of the company’s overseas business. The company is exploring more opportunities in cities such as New York and Washington.

CNR also won a contract last year to supply 232 diesel locomotives to South Africa. Yu said the company will establish local manufacturing companies and create jobs for local employees.

Li Wen, deputy general manager of the corporate business department at the Export-Import Bank of China, said on Wednesday that the bank is involved in promoting a group of important railway projects, including a high-speed train project in California. Li said at the end of January that the bank had provided $13 billion in loans to 35 overseas railway equipment export and rail construction projects.

CNR and CSR, China’s major high-speed train manufacturer, have announced a plan to merge to become the world’s largest train manufacturer. Shareholders will vote on the move on March 9.

via High-speed trains steer to overseas destinations[1]- Chinadaily.com.cn.

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12/01/2015

“High-speed train tribe” grows with China’s expanding rail network – Xinhua | English.news.cn

China’s expanding high-speed train network and soaring property prices in big cities have seen the birth of the “high-speed train tribe,” a new set of commuters who travel to and from work by bullet train.

High-speed trains service for Beijing's neighboring township

Starting Monday, Beijing will be connected to Yanjiao Town in neighboring Hebei Province via three bullet trains during morning and evening rush hours. The new trains are a high-speed alternative for white-collar workers in the town who are used to suffering on slow, cramped buses on their way to the capital city.

The trains, coded D9022, D9023 and D9024, will help Yanjiao commuters reach Beijing in only half an hour, much shorter than buses, which typically take an hour.

Yanjiao, only 30 kilometers away, has been dubbed the “town of sleep” because its residents often work in Beijing and return to sleep there at night. The town has 600,000 residents, a majority of whom work in Beijing.

The new rail routes came as welcome news to commuters in Yanjiao, many of whom said they will finally be spared the trouble of being crammed on overloaded buses. By 9 p.m. Sunday, all Monday morning train tickets to Beijing had been sold out, according to official statistics.

But the public remains divided on the issue.

via “High-speed train tribe” grows with China’s expanding rail network – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

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10/12/2014

World’s longest train journey reaches its final destination in Madrid – Xinhua | English.news.cn

The train, named “Yixinou” arrives in Madrid Abronigal railway station in Madrid, Spain, on Dec. 9, 2014. Madrid was the final destination on Tuesday for a train which has set the record for the longest train journey in history: 13,052 kilometers between the Chinese city of Yiwu and the Spanish capital. (Xinhua/Xie Haining)

MADRID, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) — Madrid was the final destination on Tuesday for a train which has set the record for the longest train journey in history; 13,052 kilometers between the Chinese city of Yiwu and the Spanish capital.

The train which arrived in Madrid at 11a.m. local time (1000GMT), departed from Yiwu on November 18th with 40 wagons, carrying 1,400 tons of cargo, consisting of stationary, craft products and products for the Christmas market and it will return to China filled with luxury Spanish produce such as cured ham, olive oil and wine.

The results of this first historic journey which will then be evaluated with the aim of opening a regular two-way rail link between China and Spain, which could commence operations in early 2015.

Two major advantages of rail travel are that the goods were transported much faster than would otherwise be possible by boat, arriving in Spain in half of the time a cargo vessel would need to cross from China to Spain, while the train produces 62 percent less carbon dioxide contamination less than a lorry making the same journey by road.

The marathon journey crossed China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus, Poland, Germany and France, before arriving in Spain with 30 of the wagons it had originally set out with.

The 13,052 kilometers between Madrid and Yiwu is a greater distance than that between the north and south pole, although the distance was not covered using the same crew, nor the same engine.

The engine was changed approximately every 800 kilometers, while the crew changes with each country the train traversed. Meanwhile special stops were necessary at the frontier cities of Dostyk (Kazakhstan), Brest (Belarus) and Irun (Spain) in order to deal with the different railway gauges encountered along the route.

A host of dignitaries, such as Spain’s Public Works Minister Ana Pastor, the Mayor of Madrid Ana Botella, as well as the Director of Business at the Chinese Embassy in Madrid Mr. Huang Yazhong, and the Director of Commerce for the Government of Zhejiang Province Mr. Zhang Shuming.

Mr. Huang said the journey showed the great importance China gave to strengthening relations with Europe, while thanking all of the authorities which had helped to make such a historic trajectory possible, while Mrs Botella commented that the 13,053 of railway which had made the historic feat possible was like a “new silk road for the 21st century, except that now the commerce will travel in both directions.

via World’s longest train journey reaches its final destination in Madrid – Xinhua | English.news.cn.

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03/12/2014

A New Look for Indian Railways – India Real Time – WSJ

Indian Railways is trying to get a makeover.

“We want to improve passenger amenities,” said Suresh Prabhu, India’s new minister for railways, via a video conference at an event organized by the Asia Society in Mumbai Wednesday.

India’s nationalized rail network carries around 30 million passengers a day and has a budget for 2014/15 of 654 billion rupees ($10 billion.)

So what will the new railways look like? Mr. Prabhu gave some clues Wednesday.

Better food: Train travelers have long grumbled about the quality of food served on Indian trains including watery dal (lentil soup) and thick rotis (Indian bread.)

Mr. Prabhu said he’s considering a plan to set up base kitchens that will make good quality food to supply trains.

He’s also exploring an option to tie up with restaurants along train routes, so that commuters can order food from those restaurants, and the food would be delivered onto the train by Railway staff.

Some private websites have lately started  offering this facility on their own, such as travelkhana.com,  yatrachef.com and railtiffin.com.

Mobile ticket booking: The Indian Railways’ website irctc.co.in, which allows travelers to book tickets online, is one of the most-frequently visited websites in India.

Now, Indian Railways wants to introduce an option for travelers to be able to book train tickets on their cellphones. Mr. Prabhu didn’t clarify if he was referring to a new app for this booking.

He said Wednesday that a technical glitch has delayed the launch, but passengers can expect it soon.

Cleanliness: The Railways are looking to improve the quality of toilets and waiting spaces at train stations, said Mr. Prabhu. “We also want to improve the coaches,” he said. The plan is to retrofit existing train coaches and set up a factory for making new coaches, he added.

“In the next few months we should be able to put in place a complete blueprint” to achieve these goals without denting the rail finances, said Mr. Prabhu.

via A New Look for Indian Railways – India Real Time – WSJ.

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20/11/2014

China Railway Construction wins $12 billion Nigeria deal: Xinhua | Reuters

China Railway Construction Corp (601186.SS) (1186.HK) has signed a deal worth nearly $12 billion with Nigeria to build a railway along the West African nation’s coast, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said on Thursday.

The announcement comes shortly after Mexico abruptly scrapped a $3.75 billion high-speed rail contract with a consortium led by the Chinese firm over transparency concerns.

China is pushing to win railway construction projects around the world as part of plans to export its high-speed technology and lift its manufacturing sector up the value chain.

Beijing is also pumping money into the sector, with more than $100 billion worth of infrastructure projects approved in late October and early November in a bid to bolster slowing growth in the world’s second largest economy.

“It is a mutually beneficial project,” CRCC Chairman Meng Fengchao told Xinhua. He added the railway project will lead to equipment exports from China worth $4 billion, including construction machinery, trains and steel products.

via China Railway Construction wins $12 billion Nigeria deal: Xinhua | Reuters.

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