China mulls constructing high speed railway to the US

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2014-05-09

A test run of the Nanguang high-speed rail in Guangxi, Mar. 19. (File photo/Xinhua)

Each time Chinese premier Li Keqiang makes overseas visits, he invariably touts the good quality, technological skill, mature operations experience, high cost-performance ratio and good international reputation of China's high-speed railways.

On May 5, he reaffirmed the merits of China's high-speed railway before African leaders at the Conference Center of African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Behind this high-speed railway pitch is China's plan to go global with its high speed rail, which was first proposed in 2009.

The first of the three cross-border high-speed railway plans being constructed or promoted is the high-speed railway line connecting Europe and Asia, which starts from London, will pass through Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Kiev, Moscow and then branch out to Kazakhstan, or Khabarovsk and then enter China's Manzhouli. The domestic section of this line has already started construction while the sections outside China are still being negotiated.

The second line is Central Asia's high speed railway that will start in Urumqi, pass through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Turkey and conclude in Germany. The domestic section is being promoted, while the sections outside China are still being negotiated.

The third line will be the Pan-Asian high speed rail, which starts in Kunming.

China is currently digging a mountain in western Yunnan to build a 30 kilometer tunnel that will pass through Burma, and from Burma one line will go to Thailand and the other will pass through Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia before arriving in Singapore.

Wang Mengshu, a member of the Academy of Engineering and a railway expert, stated that China was also mulling building a railway to connect China, Russia, Canada and the United States.

The railway will depart from northeastern China, pass through Siberia to arrive at the Bering Strait, then on to Alaska, Canada until it reaches the United States.

Wang revealed that the line was initially estimated to be around 13, 000 km long. If completed, Chinese nationals may no longer need to travel to the United States by air, but could take a train.

Analysts were of the view that China will face three challenges in attempting to build international high speed lines in three areas, namely funds, rail operations and technological hurdles.