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 should go into service, with trains reaching 200 to 250 km/h. Beijing- Shanghai is to follow suit.
Already in 2000, about 4000 passenger cars were equipped with disk brakes, and from 2000 on, all new passenger cars should be 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.
Back to my home page