While the project has been estimated to take between five and ten years to complete, works have already begun on the first leg of the journey between Moscow and Kazan. Much of the distance will run in parallel with the Trans-Siberian Railway, but compared to a six-day journey on the famous line, the new bullet train will reach its destination in just 33 hours. The 250mph bullet trains will race across a total of 4,800 miles, traversing China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Russia. However, details emerging in January and March 2015 are starting to give the project a clearer shape. Beijing-Moscow: the Eurasian transport corridorĬhina and Russia are strengthening their ties via a direct line between Moscow and Beijing that is set to become the longest high-speed railway in the world on completion.ĭespite a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two countries’ leaders in October 2014, the project was initially met with incredulity due to a number of practical hurdles. The rail structure falls within China’s One Road One Belt economic plan of diversifying and constructing new land and sea routes into Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and Africa. Even with the countries’ consent, differences in line track gauge between the European standard of 1,524 mm and China’s 1,435 mm would impose the necessity of changing wheels at the border. The project’s biggest hurdles are geopolitical discrepancies between the countries, which is why China’s President Xi Jinping gathered over 100 European leaders and representatives to Beijing in July 2014 to pitch and debate the idea. Despite China’s confidence, there are a host of obstacles that could prove insurmountable to the project as a whole, let alone the high-speed timetable that has been reported. Although this gargantuan project might seem like wishful thinking, Chinese media reported a rather short prospective timeline: an initial finish date is envisioned for 2020, followed by the start of operational services by 2030. The $150bn railway would start in Xinjiang and snake its way across 3,700 miles through 40 Asian and European countries which hold a total population of three billion people. “China’s enthusiasm for high-speed trains has known few boundaries so far.”
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China-Europe: revival of the Silk RoadĬhina’s enthusiasm for high-speed trains has known few boundaries so far and now it has set its ambitions on a new grandiose scheme: reviving the ancient Silk Road route via a state-of-the-art high-speed rail network for both passengers and freight. In March, a Japanese consortium led by East Japan Railway Company expressed interest in taking up the building contract for the railway. According to current plans, the final result would feature an elevated track between the two cities, cutting the journey from the present eight hours to just two and a half. If approved, the railway’s construction is expected to cost anywhere between $10bn and $13bn and take around ten years to complete. JICA will announce in June this year whether the route can support trains travelling at speeds of over 200mph, as well as potential funding options and the viability of the overall structure. The Japan Internal Cooperation Agency (JICA) is currently undertaking a feasibility study for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad passage. Without more specifics or international agreements, the project is still very much in its theoretical stages.ĭespite financial problems that stopped the project in its infancy in 2014, the Indian Government is now hurrying to kick-start production of high-speed rail infrastructure. The cost of this mammoth continent-crossing project is estimated at trillions of dollars, with no precise figure in sight. The railway is expected to feature either a tunnel or bridge across the Bering Strait, but an exact route is still to be established.
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Referring to the continent-spanning railway as an “inter-state, inter-civilization project”, Yakunin expressed excitement at the prospect of economic growth and new job creation as a result of the project. The plans, which also include the construction of an adjacent motorway alongside the route, were announced on 25 March by Russian Railways head Vladimir Yakunin during a meeting of the Russian Academy of Science.
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The Trans-Eurasian Belt Development (TERP) project would be a 12,000-mile transport route linking Europe and Asia, with key stops in London, Paris, Berlin, Moscow and New York. In one of the most ambitious high-speed projects to date, Russia recently unveiled plans to build the first modern high-speed railway across Europe, Russia, Alaska and the US.