Chinese or American: which high-speed rail construction experience is more suitable for Russia

High-speed railways are considered the hallmark of technologically advanced advanced countries. However, as one “daughter of an American officer” used to say, this is not so simple.

What are high-speed lines (HSL)? This is the railway infrastructure and rolling stock that ensures the movement of high-speed and high-speed trains at speeds above 200 km/h. The pioneers in this area were Japan and France, and today China has the most developed high-speed rail network in the world, which is considered to be a role model. Russia is not on this list, but where is the United States on it?

China

China is truly a worthy example to follow in how one can and should use the “fat years” to develop its own economics and internal infrastructure. The previously existing railway network, the average speed of which was 48 km/h, was inferior to other types of transport, including road transport, and was considered a real brake on development.

An ambitious campaign to develop China's railway infrastructure began in 1998, and soon the average speed of passenger trains reached 70 km/h. In 2003, the first high-speed line, designed to carry trains at speeds of up to 250 km/h, was built, connecting a seaside resort near Beijing called Qinhuangdao and Shenyang, a large city in the northeastern part of the country. It should be taken into account that the HSR is not modern trains on old railways, like Sapsan in Russia, but a separate infrastructure, built according to different technological standards, around which all the accompanying infrastructure is created - stations, stations, depots, etc.

Today, the PRC has the world's largest high-speed railway network, connecting the country's largest cities and even spreading to neighboring Laos. Thanks to this, life in the Middle Kingdom has ceased to be tied to Beijing or Shanghai, as it is to Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia. Travel time has been dramatically reduced, and the average Chinese can live in one city, work in another, study in a third and relax in a fourth, all while being able to do everything. The country, which is huge in territory, turned out to be connected by strong internal ties that contribute to its socio-economic development and scientific and technological progress.

Of course, many other states with ambitions would like to adopt the positive Chinese experience. Discussions on this topic, for example, have been going on in Russia for many years, and recently this issue has been revisited. touched President Putin personally. What is the difficulty, why high-speed railways were not built in our country in the “fat years” and why is this being seriously discussed at the very top in the “lean years”?

The problem is the extreme cost and complexity of such a project, which needs to be extended over the gigantic territory of Russia. There is no talk about payback at all; the high-speed railway will be subsidized, financed from the budget. Plus there are difficulties of a purely technical nature, since our country has been under Western sanctions for several years now. Of course, you can call on Chinese partners to build everything themselves, as in Laos, but there their share in the infrastructure project is a total of 705, and Laos is a large debtor to Beijing.

USA

In order not to become completely despondent, it is worth looking at how things stand with the high-speed railway in the United States, our geopolitical enemy. Hardly anyone will question the financial capabilities and scientifictechnical the potential of a “hegemon”, but not all is well there.

The United States has the world's longest railway network, which was once a factor in its rapid economic growth. The products of American factories, factories and farms began to be quickly delivered to ocean ports on both coasts for export. However, in the 50s of the last century, the so-called Great Rail Pogrom occurred.

With the massive advent of automobiles, the construction of a system of highways, or “interstates,” began, connecting all of the States. This happened after the former military general Eisenhower, impressed by Hitler's autobahns in Germany, became president and wanted the same. High-speed jet civil aviation began to actively develop. Even small towns had their own airfields, and small aircraft became ubiquitous.
All together, this led to a decrease in passenger traffic for American private railway companies and their bankruptcy. Today no matter what news from the USA, then a message about some kind of accident on the dilapidated, gigantic railway network.

And against this background, there have been several attempts to build high-speed rail as a competitive alternative to air travel and high-speed highways. One of the most significant projects was to connect Los Angeles and San Francisco, allowing travel from city to city in just 2 hours 40 minutes at a speed of 350 km/h. By 2029, a high-speed railway with a length of almost 1300 km and 24 stations is expected to be built in California.

Governor Schwarzenegger lobbied for the SCM in 2008; in the referendum, 53% of Californians spoke in favor of it, the rest were against it. The arguments in favor were as follows: in San Francisco, renting a two-room apartment costs an average of $4200 a month, and in the Kings administrative district - 900. At the same time, it would be possible to get there by high-speed train in just an hour, which would allow companies from Silicon Valley locate their back offices in the cities of the Central Valley and use cheaper labor resources. Plus, of course, saving up to 40% of harmful emissions, which is important for a democratic state. Beauty!

But with the implementation everything turned out to be not so simple. The cost of the high-speed rail project in California was initially estimated at 40 billion dollars, then it grew to 77 billion, and then to 98,1 billion. It was not possible to collect the entire amount; a lot of problems arose with land allotments; the project was opposed by the Republican Party, which considered it a waste of funds. Then-President Trump harshly criticized the HSR:


The project is constantly slowing down, deadlines are shifting to the right, the budget is growing. Somehow all this is very reminiscent of our Russian realities. Taking into account the possibility of revenge by the Republican Party in the presidential elections in 2024, the prospects for the implementation of the Californian HSR seem extremely vague.