A Swedish X2000 train and Swiss "lok 2000" locomotives started high speed services between Kowloon / Shenzhen and Guagngzhou, reaching 200 km/h.
On 1st October 1998, a new wave of speed increases was launched, and trains now reached 140-160 km/h. This was implemented upen the delivery of many enough locomotives of high speed classes DF4D, DF11 and SS8. The speed increase was implemented on the lines Beijing - Shanghai, Beijing - Guangzhou and Beijing - Harbin. The speed of normal (non-express) trains was increased to 120 km/h. They also increased the number of trains.
The third wave came on 21st October 2000, now on the lines Lianyungang - Lanzhou - Urumqi, Beijing - Kowloon and Hangzhou - Zhuzhou. Generally, the highest speed was now 160 km/h, and 200 km/h on parts of the line Shanghai-Nanjing. This meant the average travelling speed including stops of all passenger trains throughout the country was increased from 49 km/h to 56.8 km/h.
The fourth wave came on October 21, 2001 and comprised new trains on the lines with increased speeds from before, but also new lines, bringing the total length of the higher speed netwrok to 13.000 km. New line sincluded Beijing - Kowloon, Wuchang - Chengdu, Xiangfan - Chongqing, Daxian - Chengdu, Wuchang - Guangzhou, Hangzhou - nanchang, Harbin - Dalian. Cuts include Beijing - Guangzhou 22h 40 min down by 1h 18 min, Beijing - Shenzhen 23 h 58 min down by 5 h 51 kin, Wuchang - Chengdu 16 h 30 min down by 5h 35 min, Dalian - Harbin 9h 25 min down by 2 h 3 min, Shanghai to Guangzhoudong 21 h 6 min down by 2 h 23 min. There are now also 14 pairs of express freight trains operating at 120 km/h consisting of P65 cars.
In January 1997, a SS8 locomotive reached 212.6 km/h on the loop test track in Beijing, in June 1998 another express train reached 240 km/h between Zhengzhou and Wuchang.
In 2003, the high speed passenger line from Qinhuangdao to
Shenyang went into service, with trains reaching 200 to 250 km/h.
Already in 2000, about 4000 passenger cars were equipped with
disk brakes, and from 2000 on, all new passenger cars were
produced with disk brakes. They assure emergency braking distances
of 800 m from 120 km/h, 1100 m from 140 km/h, 1400 m from 160 km/h
and 2000 m from 200 km/h.
Liu Zhijun, Chinese minster of railways said in December 2010, at
the global high speed rail summit, that 7531 kilometers had a
speed of 200 km/h and faster, including 4322 km of new high-speed
lines. Another10.000 km of high speed lines were under
construction. Much of this due special government programs to help
keep up investment after the globa financial crisis in 2008.
However, Liu was investigated and removed in Feburary 2011 for
graft. Nonqualified contractors may have gotten contracts for
high-speed line construction and this made people worry about the
safety of lines.
Since summer 2008, the new line between Beijing Nan (new station)
and Tianjin is open to traffic with German-built ICE3 like EMUs.
Maximum speed 350 km/h, transportation time 30 minutes, frequency
every 20 minutes. The line Shanghai to Hangzhou, 202 km long, was
opened in 2009, after only two years construction, speecd 350
km/h.
Since 2010, both Zhengzhou to Xi'an and Beijing to Tianjin as
well as Wuhan to Guangzhou are open with high speed trains at
speeds above 300 km/h. In December 2011, the 2078 km long new
high-speed line Shanghai to Chengdu is planned to open.
A new high-speed line is being built between Datong and
Huhehaote, to be opened in 2011. (Probably the line continues
eastwards to Beijing, westwards to Baotou).
Speed between Jiayuguan and Wulumuqi will be increased to 200
km/h when electrification is finished in 2012.
Siemens got an order for 140 high speed train sets with 16 cars
and 40 with 8 cars. They will probably be based on the German
"Velaro" sets, (DB ICE3), as used on the Beijing Nan to Tianjin
line. However, most of the construction is going to take place in
China.
China Daily had an article on 26 January, 2012, about the trouble
facing China Railways with their high speed program. Railway
minister Liu Zhijun was investigated for corruption in February
2011 and then removed. New railway minister is Sheng Guangzu.
In April 2011, the minister announced that new high-speed lines
would operate at lower speeds, to mitigate possible safety
problems.
On June 30, 2011, the new line Beijing-Shanghai was opened.
Services operate at 200 and 300 km/h instead of the planned 380
km/h. This new 1318 km long line had some trouble during its first
month of operation, which fueled suspicion about its safety.
On July 23, a high speed train rear collided into another stopped
train near Wenzhou, killing 40 and injuring nearly 200 others.
After this, the two line Beijing to Tianjin and Shanghai to
Hangzhou got slowed down service (probably to 300 km/h).
In October 2011, it was announced that the whole construction
program of 10.000 km more high speed lines was stopped due to
funding problems.
The ministry of railways has a debt of 2 trillion RMB, and this
needs to be resolved before the program can continue. Many
contractors have money outstanding, figures between 200 and 450
billion RMB are named. Some contractors did not pay their workers
for many months. In November 2011, the Ministry of railways got
200 billion RMB emergency aid from the central government, but
this may not be enough to restart construction.
This, the high speed program is currently more or less stopped.
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