The world is racing to build high-speed rail.

The US and Japanese governments recently expressed support for a project to build the first high-speed rail line in the US using Japanese technology, following a meeting between the leaders of the two countries on April 10th. According to Reuters, US President Joe Biden is seeking to revive the high-speed rail project connecting Dallas and Houston in Texas. The desire of the world's largest economy , with over 340 million people, to push forward with high-speed rail construction is attracting attention, while many other countries are also racing to invest in this sector.

The US enters the fray.

The high-speed rail project in Texas, costing approximately $25-30 billion and spanning 380 km, is expected to be built and operated by Texas Central Partners and the American National Passenger Rail Corporation (Amtrak). This line will reduce travel time between the two cities to 90 minutes, compared to 3.5 hours by car. Japanese lenders, including the Japan International Cooperation Bank (JBIC), have agreed to provide financing for the development of the rail line, which is planned to utilize Japan's Shinkansen high-speed train technology.

TGV InOui high-speed trains in Paris (France)

Not only in Texas, the US is also pushing forward with a high-speed rail project in California, which would shorten travel time between Los Angeles and San Francisco to less than 3 hours. According to Railway Gazette International , the California High-Speed ​​Rail Authority is inviting proposals and expects to award contracts this year to build two prototype trains capable of operating at 355 km/h and testing up to 390 km/h. Authorities hope this rail line will be operational before 2030.

A series of projects

Japan started the trend of building high-speed rail with the Shinkansen in 1964, but the race really heated up after the French TGV high-speed rail line was launched in the early 1980s, according to CNN. To date, China has built approximately 43,700 km of high-speed rail, accounting for 28.1% of the country's railway network. Many European countries, South Korea, and Russia have also built modern high-speed rail lines.

According to Rail Technology , a total of 250 railway construction projects commenced worldwide last year, with a total investment of nearly $250 billion. Asia continues to dominate with 42% of the projects, including 40 in India and 28 in China. China is building a high-speed rail line connecting Yan'an and Yulin cities in Shaanxi province. The nearly 240 km long line has a design speed of 350 km/h, with an investment of $9.3 billion and is expected to be completed in 2027. In addition, China is also building a 64 km high-speed rail line in Ningbo city (Zhejiang province), expected to be completed in 2026.

In Europe, Poland is investing $8.9 billion in a mega-project, including a new airport southwest of Warsaw, upgrading 2,400 km of railway, and building an additional 1,800 km of new high-speed rail. In Russia, President Vladimir Putin recently announced the VSM-1 high-speed rail project connecting Moscow and St. Petersburg, with speeds up to 400 km/h and scheduled to be operational by 2030. Last year, the first high-speed rail line in Southeast Asia began operating in Indonesia, connecting Jakarta with Bandung, the capital of West Java province; the 140 km journey takes only 28 minutes at speeds up to 350 km/h.

High-speed rail has not yet exceeded 600 km/hour.

According to ABC News, in addition to Japan and France, which had already developed high-speed rail, about 10 other countries have also started building high-speed rail since 2010. There are no common standards, but high-speed rail is generally understood to be a route for trains traveling at speeds exceeding 250 km/hour.

According to Associate Professor Philip Laird at the University of Wolverhampton (Australia), trains running on railways cannot significantly exceed 350 km/h. The reason is believed to be technological limitations preventing trains from going faster. Under special testing conditions, a modified version of the TGV (France) train once reached a speed of 574.8 km/h. Even the Shanghai magnetic levitation train (China), currently the world's fastest operating train, only reaches 460 km/h. The 30 km journey connecting Shanghai Pudong Airport to Longyang Station takes approximately 7.5 minutes by train.

Japan has a 42-kilometer line currently testing a magnetic levitation train at a speed of 503 km/h, but it is not expected to be operational before 2030. When it begins operation, Japan's new generation magnetic levitation train is expected to connect the cities of Tokyo and Nagoya at a speed of 500 km/h.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/the-gioi-chay-dua-xay-duong-sat-cao-toc-185240415221253359.htm