US High Speed Rail Plan Launched

Documents can be found at:
http://www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/31
http://bwmaglev.com/default.htm

I got it...2010-2020 is the infrastructure decade...hence alot of cheap labor is needed world-wide..
High-speed rail network set to take global lead08:53, January 08, 2010
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/6863047.html

Workers at the Lushan station in Jiangxi province lay tracks for the express rail running between provincial capital Nanchang and Jiujiang on Monday. The line is China's second inter-city express rail after the Beijing-Tianjin link. Hu Guolin

China is well on its way to becoming the high-speed railway capital of the world, with 33,000 km of these railways currently under construction and about 70 projects slated to launch this year.

By the end of 2012, China's high-speed railway is expected to account for half of the world's total length.

Currently, 2.1 trillion yuan ($300 billion) worth of rail construction projects are under way.

In the next three years, 26,000 km of new lines, including 9,200 km of high-speed lines, will be put into operation to ease the pressure on the country's overburdened rail network, said Liu Zhijun, Minister of Railways.

China's dominance in the high-speed railway market is remarkable, said Yang Hao, professor in railway transport with Beijing Jiaotong University.

"No matter the length of high-speed railways, or the operation speed of our high-speed trains, China now dwarfs other countries," Yang said.

Though many of the advanced technologies used in high-speed railways were imported from France, Japan and Germany, "China has learned them fast, and China also has its advantage in industrial integration", he said.

By 2013, 800 bullet trains will be churned out to zip through the cities at a speed of at least 250 km/h, the minister said. Also, a new-generation high-speed train, which insiders said is built to run up to 380 km/h on the future Beijing-Shanghai high-speed link, is also expected to roll off the production line and complete comprehensive tests this year, he said.

The country should also clinch more deals in the global railway market this year, the minister said yesterday.

This is the first time the goal is put into the minister's annual work report, which reviews achievements in the past year and sets new goals for next year.

Liu urged various railway enterprises to go out as a whole to establish and promote China's rail standards and forge its rail brand.

"Based on our technology and industrial integration advantages, we should try to boost international cooperation this year," he said.

China launched its first 350 km/h high-speed railway between Beijing and Tianjin in August 2008 before the Beijing Olympics. Late last month, China's first long-distance high-speed rail, the 1,068-km Wuhan-Guangzhou railway, was also put into operation.

So far, State leaders and delegates from more than 100 countries have visited the Beijing-Tianjin high-speed rail, and many have expressed interest in cooperating with China to build high-speed rail.

Last year, China signed memoranda of understanding with several countries, including the United States and Russia, in high-speed rail cooperation.

Experts said China stepping ahead of these countries in developing low-emission high-speed railways could help it attract potential partners.

The cooperation is also "never one way", as both sides can benefit from the cooperation, Yang said.

Railway Corridor at Central South of Shanxi Province

1260-km long coal railway, electrified, double track

Hefei-Fuzhou High-Speed Rail

806-km long, 350 km/h, CNÂ¥110 billion, open in 2014, part of the planned Beijing-Taipei high-speed railway corridor

Hangzhou-Changsha High-Speed Rail

927-km long, 350 km/h, CNÂ¥131 billion, open in 2014, part of the planned Shanghai-Kunming high-speed railway corridor


Magnificent Wuhan Railway Station


The main building of Wuhan Railway Station lights up for test, Dec. 9, 2009. Wuhan Railway Station locates in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province, and has 11 platforms, a total of 20 track. (Xinhua)

An interior view of the under-construction Wuhan Railway Station is seen in this photo taken on Dec. 10, 2009 in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei Province. The station costing more than 14 billion RMB yuan (2.4 billion U.S. dollars) is scheduled to be put into use on Dec. 20. It is the first station built for the Wuhan-Guangzhou high speed railway passenger special line. (Xinhua/Cheng Min)


An interior view of the under-construction Wuhan Railway Station is seen in this photo taken on Dec. 10, 2009 (Xinhua/Cheng Min)

tv have at new show today i start watching it just to know what the are feeding us and surprise was about the faster rail in Cali
obvious Arnold probably was not in power because "they" have a lot's of billions of tax dollars to make the rail possible

primary functions of governments (state or federal)
1) pretend to fail (thanks to R)
2) confiscate wealth

leads to debasement of peasants wages. When peasants are poor, HUNGRY and unemployed, they have no choice but to serve in the king's domestic and international army. Now the king has his manpower to fight wars and infrastructure upgrade. 2010-2020 shall be known as the infrastructure upgrade decade...call me a conspiracy believer...LOL.

Need infrastructure upgrade ??
Train 7423 from Puxiong to Panzhihua
YZ-30 330960 (Passenger Capacity: 200)

Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Metro Project, Saudi Arabia
http://www.railway-technology.com/projects/al-mashaaer-al-mugad/
Key Data:
Location : Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Name : Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Metro Line Project
Population : 1.7 million (2008)
Ownership : Saudi Railways Organization
Opening Date : 2011
Route(s) : Mecca, Arafat, Muzdalifa and Mina
Length : 20km
Contractors :MonoMetro, Thales, Knorr-Bremse, Westinghouse Platform Screen Doors, Siemens, Lloyds Register, Systra, WS Atkins, Buro Happold, Intelligent Engineering Limited, Brecknell Willis, TPI Composites


The Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Metro Line project will connect the holy cities of Mecca, Arafat, Muzdalifa and Mina.

The Al Mashaaer Al Mugaddassah Metro Line project in Makkah (Mecca) involves the construction of a 20km-long metro line that will connect the holy cities of Mecca, Arafat, Muzdalifa and Mina.

A contract worth $1.8bn for the project was awarded by the Saudi Arabian government in February 2009 to a consortium of companies led by China Railway Construction (CRCC). CRCC will carry out construction of the infrastructure and will integrate various systems of the project.

The Mecca monorail project is one of the many projects being undertaken by Saudi Arabia to expand its railway network to meet the transportation needs of its growing population of 25 million and improve an antiquated logistics infrastructure.

The project will help transport about 3.5 million people who arrive at Mecca annually to perform Hajj. The number is expected to increase to five million in future.


The project

Construction of the monorail project will help solve the problem of heavy traffic congestion in the holy cities during the Hajj period and also help in meeting the transportation needs of the people in Saudi Arabia. Masterplans drawn up by MonoMetro show that five monorails need to be constructed to handle the flow of pilgrims to the holy cities.

The monorail project consists of five-car train sets with separate areas for men and women.

Based on the need to transport pilgrims from Mina to Arafat a four-line parallel loop network was developed. The project will help transport about 500,000 pilgrims in six to eight hours. It will also help retire about 25,000 buses from about 70,000 fleet used to transport pilgrims.

The first phase of the project includes the four-line loop with a network of pick-up and drop-off stations between Mina and Arafat. The first of the five new metro lines is expected to start operating with Automatic Train Protection at 35% capacity by November 2010.

By mid-2011, the line will run without a driver but with an attendant on board. The metro will reach full capacity to carry 72,000 passengers/direction/hour by 2011's Hajj. About 8,000 skilled and unskilled workers, along with 5,000 engineers, are engaged in the project.

The Mecca metro project is under construction in several phases, and should be complete by 2011's Hajj pilgrimage.
The project will service each of the three main cities of Mina, Arafat and Muzdafila with three substations each. The four-line parallel loop network splits into single tracks covering all the encampment zones in Mina. Mina will be the last station for the metro line and will be located towards the west of the Jamarat Bridge. The metro line will be linked to all the four floors of the bridge with elevators.

The four-line parallel route moves south towards Arafat before reaching a main station next to the Arafat Mosque and splitting again into a single-line network to carry pilgrims into Arafat. The lines come together again and move towards Muzdelefa where pilgrims will spend ceremonial time before returning to Mina.

The line will run on a viaduct with the depot located at the end of the trail that is behind the first station in Arafat. A turnaround loop is planned between the last station and the depot.


Infrastructure

The trains of the monorail will operate at an elevation ranging from 8m to 10m so that they do not obstruct the movement of vehicles and pedestrians on the ground.

The first phase of the project includes the four-line loop with a network of pick-up and drop-off stations between Mina and Arafat.

The trains will comprise 12 carriages, each 20m long and 3m wide. The monorail will run on a powerful superstructure made of steel railroads supported by solid concrete pillars made of prefabricated steel masts and beams.

The design of the superstructure is auto-responsive to the forces of acceleration and emergency braking, with columns and specialised beamways that act as a kinetic energy absorbing/redistribution network, as well as the modular elevated station kit.

Controlled access to the monorail is planned to prevent accidents such as the tragedy at Mina in 2006, when more than 350 people died in a stampede. Trains on four elevated tracks will transport 20,000 pilgrims per hour in an orderly manner. The project will also include the construction of multi-storey parking facilities at the entrance of Mecca to help pilgrims park their cars before boarding the trains.


Rolling stock

The rolling stock for the monorail will include five-car sets running together as ten-car sets supplied by MonoMetro, UK. Each five-car set is entirely interconnected and air-conditioned with separate areas for men and women.

The five-car sets for the monorail are being supplied by UK firm MonoMetro.

Each five-car set has a central emergency escape car with inflatable chutes to enable pilgrims to escape in case of an emergency. As the tracks form a closed loop each train set will circulate several times between Mina and Arafat. The rolling stock will be stabled throughout the year for cleaning and maintenance at the depot in Arafat

The technology on which the monorail is based is steel wheels running on steel rails in a vector bifurcation bogie capture configuration. The wheel-rail interface geometry for the monorail was developed by MonoMetro with SKF, the Swedish bearings manufacturer. ESG, the mechanical engineering arm of English Welsh and Scottish Railways, will develop the vector bifurcation bogie sets.

The Mecca project is aimed at easing congestion in times of pilgrimage as well as providing extra transport for Saudi residents.
Knorr-Bremse was awarded a $55m contract to provide braking systems for trains and station platform screen doors for nine stations of the metro line.


Signalling and communications

CRCC awarded a $144m contract to Thales in June 2009 to supply, integrate and deploy its driverless train control and telecommunication systems for the project. Thales will design, integrate, install, test and commission the systems. It will install the SelTrac Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) system in the metro project.

Thales will also supply its fully integrated communications solution including an operation control centre, CCTV, SCADA and an automatic address and information system.


Contracts

Westinghouse Platform Screen Doors will provide the PSDs for the project, Siemens will supply power and Lloyds Register will act as the safety assessor. Systra will carry out the civil work and WS Atkins will be in-charge of electrical and mechanical systems and project management.

Brecknell Willis, a UK supplier of power rails and current collection shoes for railways, will provide a lightweight aluminium power rail with stainless steel contact surface. It will supply 1500v DC and a current draw of 3,000A.

TPI Composites, a US manufacturer of high-strength low-weight composite lightweight vehicles, will manufacture the cars.

UK firm Intelligent Engineering will provide patented elastomeric bonding technology for the butterfly masts, side arms and the consecutive beam junction assembly with viscous damping. The technology will enable cyclical expansion and contraction to sustain heat in the region. It will also provide high resistance to emergency braking force. Buro Happold will be responsible for developing the structural engineering of the MonoMetro superstructure.


The future

Studies are being carried out to ascertain the extension of the monorail to a station close to the Grand Mosque in Mecca and linking it with Jeddah airport and the Haramain Railway that connects the two holy cities of Mecca and Madinah. Similar projects are planned for the city of Madinah in the future.

The vector bifurcation bogie is articulated at the vertex between either side with steel wheels running on steel rails.

Stimulus Spending Puts High-Speed Rail on Fast Track
Published: Thursday, 28 Jan 2010 | 8:51 AM ET Text Size By: Brian A. Shactman
CNBC Reporter
http://www.cnbc.com/id/35106090

From the speaker's podium in Congress to the train platform.

President Obama's first appearance after the State of the Union address is in Tampa, Fla. on Thursday where he is expected to announce $8 billion worth of grants for high speed rail projects in the United States.

More than a dozen projects will receive funds, spanning 31 states, but the biggest winners look to be Florida, Illinois and California. See details of all the projects here.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/rss_viewer/hsr_awards_summary_public.pdf (researching for completion dates !! )

Combined, all three states will be awarded more than half of the $8 billion with California getting the biggest chunk: $2.3 billion.

The initial California proposal asked for $4.7 billion in order to establish sections of what will eventually become a high-speed line connecting Anaheim to San Francisco in an eye-popping two hours and forty minutes.

"(It is) something that would be much more convenient than taking a plane, and certainly much easier in time and fatigue than driving," Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle told CNBC.

"That train will emit less because it's fully electrifiied. It has a much more positive effect on the environment than cars and airplanes do," said Pringle who doubles as the Chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority. "We're not looking at how we're addressing the needs of today. We're looking at how we're addressing the needs of tomorrow."

He added that this is an example of government showing foresight.

"Very seldom does government look and focus on the future," he said, also poining out that the state of California will match the federal investment, dollar for dollar.

The specific focus of the major initiatives will be inter-city connections that range between 100-600 miles.

But it must be pointed out that California is the only proposal that resembles global definitions of high-speed rail. The Anaheim-San Francisco line—which projects a total cost of $42 billion— could see speeds of 200-miles per hour. But we won't be seeing bullet trains littering the countryside. Some of the trains project speeds upward of 110-miles per hour, while others will struggle to get above 80.

For perspective, Japan has had high-speed rail, with speeds over 200-miles per hour, since the 1960's. England got up to speed seven years ago, and even China implemented the technologies in 2007, investing about $50-billion.

Only Amtrak's Acela line in the Northeast comes close to being considered high speed. It has top speeds well over 100-miles per hour but nowhere near 200.

Beyond the $8 billion from the Recovery Act, high-speed rail is in the federal budget for $1 billion a year over the next five years, although not all of the $8 billion will go explicitly to high-speed rail. For example, reports out of Oregon are that Portland will receive several million dollars to repair the roof to its main station.

President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are expected to tout job creation at the town hall meeting in Florida, but the administration is taking the message all across the country. Several cabinet members will appear at rail events nationwide on Thursday and Friday. Read the DOT's rail plan here. http://www.fra.dot.gov/Downloads/Final%20FRA%20HSR%20Strat%20Plan.pdf

A few hours after the President's announcement in Florida, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will be in California, joined by both of the state's Senators.

Jobs will be the focus of the speeches, but in California, they might not come as quickly as people think.

"The bulk of the money would start to be spent on construction in 2012," said Curt Pringle, Chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority. (Looks like we will experience 2 years of severe depression prior to any job creation !! )

The other dynamic is which companies are prepared to help build the trains and the infrastructure. The White House acknowledges that many of the companies best positioned to help are not U.S.-based. To that end, several companies are working to establish a presence in the U.S. to qualify to get this business.

They range from France's Alstom, Spain's CAF to several companies in Asia. General Electric [GE 16.03 -0.27 (-1.66%) ]is also expected to be involved, as is Canada's Bombardier.

ianadds wrote:Documents can be found at:
http://www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/31
http://bwmaglev.com/default.htm

Didn't Warren Buffet invest in railroads some months ago? I think it was him, and it was telling because the U.S. railroad system is old and small compared to how it used to be. I thought something must be happening there as the only way for railroads is up. I also thought about how Thomas the Train became a huge hit for children, and that generation of kids are now reaching the work age. thinking out-loud

You Sir are a wise investor.. Always keep an eye on Warren Buffet.

As Green revoluntion continues...
China's railway investment totals RMB 321.8 bln in Jan
Published: 22 Feb 2010 01:24:24 PST
http://news.alibaba.com/article/detail/business-in-china/100250490-1-china%2527s-railway-investment-totals-rmb.html

Feb. 22, 2010 (China Knowledge) - China's Ministry of Railways has posted a report that the country invested RMB 321.8 billion in the fixed assets of the railway industry in January, 73.4% more than last January.

wilderness wrote:

ianadds wrote:Documents can be found at:
http://www.fra.dot.gov/us/content/31
http://bwmaglev.com/default.htm

Didn't Warren Buffet invest in railroads some months ago? I think it was him, and it was telling because the U.S. railroad system is old and small compared to how it used to be. I thought something must be happening there as the only way for railroads is up. I also thought about how Thomas the Train became a huge hit for children, and that generation of kids are now reaching the work age. thinking out-loud

good stuff ian..and yes wildy..you are correct..warren is in the rail game again

thx Ian for all the info
Wildy YOU so rigth when YOU think
add this imho is easy to control people in public transport than in individual cars

King's Cross to Beijing in two days on new high-speed rail network
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/7397846/Kings-Cross-to-Beijing-in-two-days-on-new-high-speed-rail-network.html
Passengers will be able to travel by train from King's Cross to Beijing in just two days on trains that travel almost as fast as aeroplanes under ambitious new plans from the Chinese.

China is in negotiations to build a high-speed rail network to India and Europe with trains that capable of running at over 200mph within the next ten years.

The network would eventually carry passengers from London to Beijing and then to Singapore. It would also run to India and Pakistan, according to Wang Mengshu, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a senior consultant on China's domestic high-speed rail project.

A second project would see trains heading north through Russia to Germany and into the European railway system, and a third line will extend south to connect Vietnam, Thailand, Burma and Malaysia.

Passengers could board a train in London and step off in Beijing, 5,070 miles away as the crow flies, in just two days. They could go on to Singapore, 6,750 miles away, within three days.

"From our point of view, the biggest issue is money," said Mr Wang.

Can't imagine who will pay for all these projects ??!!

Can't imagine who will pay for all these projects ??!![quote]