China tested its 2,298-kilometer (1,428-mile) high-speed rail line, the longest in the world, as it prepares to start passenger service on Dec. 26.

Bullet-trains on the line from Beijing to southern Chinese city of Guangzhou can run at an average speed of 300 kilometers per hour, the official Xinhua news agency said. It will shorten the rail travel time from the capital to the Pearl River Delta to about eight hours from the previous 24 hours.

China is accelerating railway investment again after it introduced new safety measures following a deadly bullet-train crash in Wenzhou that killed 40 people in July 2011. Railway investment as of October rose almost 250 percent from a year earlier as the government stepped up fiscal measures to help growth.

“Government-driven investment has quick effects on boosting growth in the short term,” said Yuan Gangming, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, a government think-tank based in Beijing. “But you can’t rely on investment to drive growth forever.”

Yuan said China had a “great leap forward” in spending on railways since 2008 and this is expected to “normalize” in coming years with the completion of major lines such as the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed link.

More than 100 Chinese and international journalists were invited to join yesterday’s test run, Xinhua said.

Hong Kong

The bullet-train line will be extended to Hong Kong in the future and will add to competition for China Southern Airlines Co. (1055) A380s flying between the cities, a flight lasting about three hours with an economy class ticket costing 1,620 yuan ($260).

A second-class train ticket on the line, which winds through major inland Chinese cities, including Zhengzhou, Wuhan and Changsha, costs 865 yuan, while a first-class ticket costs 1,388 yuan, Xinhua said. Competition from the new railway line for airlines operating Beijing-Wuhan and Beijing-Zhengzhou flights will be intense, China’s state television reported today.

China Southern Airlines is offering discounts of as much as 73 percent and Air China is offering a 57 percent discount for flights between Beijing and Wuhan on Dec. 26, according to company websites.

Investment Cost

China’s Ministry of Railways didn’t publish a total investment amount for the high-speed line because it was developed in parts and then connected. The Wuhan-Guangzhou section, which extends 1,069 kilometers and began operating a year ago, cost 116.6 billion yuan.

Another landmark Chinese high-speed railway, the 1,318- kilometer Beijing to Shanghai link that started operating in June 2011, cost 220.9 billion yuan.

China’s railway ministry didn’t publish the financial performance of the high-speed railway lines.

China has boosted its railway infrastructure spending plan to 516 billion yuan in 2012 from the 406 billion yuan set at the beginning of the year, helping the share price of CSR Corp Ltd. (1766) and China CNR Corp., the nation’s two leading train makers. (Bloomberg)



<관련 한글 기사>



中, 세계최장 고속열차 시험! ‘대륙스케일’


중국이 오는 12월 26일 첫 개통을 앞두고 2,298킬로미터의 세계 최장 구간길이를 자랑하는 초고속 열차의 시험운행을 시행했다.

베이징과 중국 남부의 광저우 사이를 평균속도 시속 300킬로미터로 달리는 이 열차로 인해 종전에 열차로 24시간이 걸리던 이 구간이 8시간 만에 갈 수 있게 된다고 중국 국영 신화통신이 보도했다.

중국은 지난 2011년 7월 40명의 사망자를 발생시킨 원저우 초고속 열차 충돌 사고 이후 새로운 안전대책을 확보하고 고속열차 사업에 대한 투자에 박차를 가하고 있다. 지난 10월까지 중국의 열차산업 투자는 1년 전에 비해 250퍼센트나 올라 성장을 뒷받침하는 중국 정부의 노력을 엿볼 수 있게 했다.

이날 시험운전 행사에는 중국과 전 세계 기자 100여명이 참석한 가운데 성공적으로 치러졌다고 신화통신이 밝혔다.

한편 중국고속열차는 정부의 전폭적 지원을 업고 향후 홍콩으로까지 연장돼 중국 남부 각 도시를 연결하는 중국남방항공과 승객유치 경쟁을 벌일 것으로 예상된다. (코리아헤럴드)