The last high speed trip I did was Qingdao to Beijing. I can assure you that even economy is luxurious when compared to train travel in China in the 1980's. xx
I can't imagine traveling in China without hi-speed trains. When my late wife and I traveled in Brazil in 1986, we had to fly between all the cities. But Brazil has planned its first express train between Rio and Sao Paulo altho construction hasn't started yet. Maybe one day you'll do South America.
south america's rail systems are... sad. most were dismantled with right wing dictatorships that strongly favoured the trucking/bus industry. the fastest train in south america is chile's central rail line capable of 160km/h. we use chinese trains
I can criticize European trains all day.....but we should not forget at the core level China learnt high speed rail from Europe and Japan. They've truly surpassed the world. Just look at the quality of infrastructure and compare them to what is the status of the same in Germany. Look at Railway stations like Nanjing station and compare it to Frankfurt am Main hauptbahnhof The difference is monumental The world needs to take note and acknowledge China's progress
The PRC has more space to build in the countryside and if a town needs to be removed in order to build a high speed line it's a lot easier to do so! Such is progress. : )
PRC also is a dictatorship and can do as and when it wills. Moreover, everyday Fill own no owndom technically and have their owndom on lease. The PRC regularly does as it wills where the everyday Burgher is concerned. Yes, it is come leaps and bounds but at what cost and intellectual property Theft at the same time!
Technology is learnt and transferred and improved in the entire human history and this is just normal. Guess from who did Japanese learn to make cars and heavy machineries. And from who did Americans learn to make looming machines (although it’s a bad example as Americans did STEAL the technology from the Brits, and that guy is still considered a national hero till this day.). It happens all the time. The technology that China acquired was legitimately transferred , as part of the expensive deal that Chinese has paid for. Otherwise you would have heard a major dispute on this in WTO already. This deal was signed after China joined the WTO for a few years, and keeping your reputation and your end of the deals is very important because it keeps the expenses of such future deals low and such future negotiations easy. Reputation is a worthy long term investment, especially for a country. As a country cant scam you once and just disappear. Again, Nobody would reinvent 4 wheels just to design their own cars. Simple as that. Nothing special to be particularly “remembered “ here. This happens all the time and everywhere.
On my 2018 tour of China, I was on the Chongqing to Xian line, I was thinking to myself what a wonderful way to travel. A few months later, they came out with the Fuxing which is the latest version of the high speed train and can cruise speed around 350 kilometer an hour.
200&250km/h EMU (Tendering in 2004) CRH1A/B/E--BST Company (Qingdao Bombardier-Sifang, a joint venture between CSR Sifang (Qingdao) and Canadian Bombardier Corporation, established before China began to develop high-speed railways) CRH2A/B/E--Kawasaki Heavy Industries of Japan (joint venture with CSR Sifang) CRH5A--France Alstom (joint venture with CNR Changchun Bus) 300 (350) km/h EMU (Tendering in 2005) CRH2C--Kawasaki Heavy Industries of Japan (joint venture with CSR Sifang) CRH3C--Siemens of Germany (joint venture with CNR Tangshan) These vehicles basically belong to foreign technology. From the initial introduction of complete vehicles to the introduction of parts and components for domestic assembly, and then to the transfer of production technology for domestic manufacturing, domestic independent production has now been achieved. Independently developed 350 (380) km/h high-speed EMU CRH380A/AL--CSR Sifang (based on CRH2 technology, but it is independent innovation, and China already has international patents) CRH380B/BL--CNR Tangshan, CNR Changke (based on CRH3C technology) CRH380CL--CNR Changke (based on CRH3C technology) CRH6A/S/F - CSR Sifang, CSR Puzhen plus Xinhui base (to some extent a derivative of CRH2, intercity EMU)
"From the initial introduction of complete vehicles to the introduction of parts and components for domestic assembly, and then to the transfer of production technology for domestic manufacturing, " From what I know, this statement is incorrect. So call technology transfer is the technology to putting thing together. not the technology to make the each component parts When negotiating about technology transfer, for one example, the Chinese side asking the technology to make the wheels, the 西門子 side said we 西門子 don't produce the wheels, 西門子 bought wheels form other German company. A relatively high position guy from Chinese Rail Ministry said it in a HRA documentary. At that time, Chinese Company only can produce wheels for run on less than 200 KM/H, and still working on the > 250 KM/H version. For the wheels, China have to buy it from Germany.
The best Chinese HSR train is CR400BF-BZ which you incidentally took in the business class between Shanghai and Nanjing, so this one isn't the best, and you should know that ;) Anywwy, Chinese HSR system is indeed mind-boggling and not even remotely comparable to anything else out there. Not just because the network is huge but also because of the service level it provides. Can't wait to ride those trains again.
@@NonstopEurotrip It isn't built "much better". More or less the same as any other CRH/CR train in terms of build quality. It's a bit older though than the one you took previously.
the CRH series have a higher running cost and maintenance cost compared to the Fuxing series. that's why we say the Fuxing series is better(at least in operator‘s view). from passasenger's view it varies according to personal preference🥴@@NonstopEurotrip
Back in 2004, when the Ministry of Railways of China(CR) first introduce the high-speed rolling stocks, they listed 4 ground terms in the negotiation with Bombardier, Kawasaki, Siemens and Alstom: 1. You must cooperate with Chinese local rolling stock manufacturer. CR won't buy trains directly from foreign manufacturers. 2. Technology transfer is a must, or CR will not introduce your rolling stock. 3. Assemble the trains in China by Chinese engineers. Foreign engineers should teach Chinese engineers. 4. CR will not pay bills until the Chinese engineers learned all the technology. CR will exam the engineers constantly. All four terms are in the contract with Bombardier, Kawasaki, Siemens and Alstom. They agreed all the terms eventually, since they didn't want to lose the Chinese market. That's why China have the technologies in the first place. It's not stealing. It's a part of the contract.
@@NonstopEurotrip Technology transfer per contract's T&Cs - It is what it is ! The Japs, Germans & French at the time UNDERESTIMATED the Chinese' ability & capacity to learn, absorb & apply what tech was transferred to them. Copying the Chinese strategy, that's what India is demanding from Japan for the current under-construction India's 1st HSR line. Let's see how successful is India going to be in developing their own HSR system post-construction and how much tech is Japan going to transfer given their experience with China.
The Wassenaar Arrangement banned the transfer of EMU technology with speeds higher than 250 km/h to China. It has nothing to do with foreign manufacturers after the CRH350 series and onwards.
The CRH380A is actually semi-self designed by China but based on technology from mainly Japan and Germany (there for the 380B we know its based on the ICE3 from Germany but the 380A is really more like a combination)... Also, it alongside with the 380B is still in reality the best performing train (in terms of specs) running in China. However the Chinese government limited most of these older CRH trains to 310 Km/h in order to promote the self-designed and built Fuxing series (they are still really good but their max capability would be below the CRH380s a bit, both the Fuxing and the CRH380 can easily and safely run at 350km/h). I would hope that they can build or redirect more CRH380A/Bs in the future and add them on to share tracks with Fuxing series at 350 Km/h, they are definitely capable, they have done before, and this would also ease the pressure at peak seasons without spending too much extra cost.
The main reason why all CRH380 series Harmony trains' speed were reduced to 300km/h was because of a major train collision in Wenzhou back in around mid-2011. That train accident involved a CRH1 and a CRH2 trains, both with operating speed of up to 250km/h but down to max 200km/h after that accident, which collided on a viaduct in Wenzhou and killed around 40 people. The train accident was confirmed to have been caused by signal failure. Since that time the government decided to restrict the operating speed of all CRH trains, known as Harmony trains, in order to improve safety and efficiency of the train until further notice. CRH380 series trains, while never involved in any major accidents, still have to lower their top speeds from 350km/h to 300km/h for the same reason. Nevertheless these high-speed trains are so good both inside and outside.
happy new year!🎉 had to laugh at the announcement approaching ChangXing station: "...please get out..having your belongings with you..." #hilarious another great video and look forward to more in the new year!
The train you took on filming day, CRH380AL-2541, is the exact EMU that made the 486km/h record. After the homegrown Fuxing (CR400) series went into service, the CRH380 series - which relied mostly on modifying transferred tech - were limited to 310 km/h max, even on 350 km/h rated lines like Shanghai-Beijing HSR, which is quite a pity imo. However, many rail fans hate "wall-facing seats" on many CRH and CR models, but 380A has perfect seat-window alignment (similar to E2 Shinkansen)
@@My-Opinion-Doesnt-Matter So, almost all Japanese culture and tech came from China. Paper, gunpowder, silk, food, written language, porcelain, kites, guns. Were these stolen too? The Europeans got tech from China early on too. Are you going to always say it's stolen tech? YOU KNOW THAT CHINA HAS SURPASSED YOU WHITE'S, RIGHT?
Technology from Bombardier (CRH1), Kawasaki (CRH2), Siemens (CRH3) and Alstom (CRH5, CRH380D) were all legally transferred to China, I suggest looking up the definition of stealing vs. technology transfer. I was merely referring to the author's word choice in his other video@@My-Opinion-Doesnt-Matter
@@My-Opinion-Doesnt-Matter coz technology is copied everywhere. look at Boeing consisting of parts from 50 countries. look at USA who has a history of stealing European Tech
Thank you for another excellent year filled with exciting trips. Congratulations on reaching 100k subscriber's, all that hard work is paying off now. I'm just about to reach 100 subscribers as I'm only a small part time amateur channel but I like to build up the channel slowly 😊. All the best for 2024 and can't wait to see what you got in store
Please do a review onboard the refurbished Talgo Alvia S730 from Madrid to Badajoz please. I am subscribed to your 5 star cfannel. Merry Christmas and Happy New year.
Thank you for sharing 🎉you did a very good job in explanation in details. Chinese high speed train is the best in the world and it benefits the people greatly. Please keep up the good work ❤cheers
I still think 380b is better than 380a because of the air tightness of the 380a is just not as good so my ear suffers from the pressure change happens when passing through tunnels on high speed. Which happens quite frequently on 郑西客专. It’s better than their predecessor, the CRH2 family (I rode them when they were brand new back in early 2010s) but definitely not as good as 380b and the newer fuxing EMUs.
The title claim is incorrect. China BOUGHT bullet train technologies from Germany, Japan and Canada and built them in China. In the process, China gradually replaced imported parts with domestic made parts, and finally redesigned China's own bullet train, which are Hexie, or Harmony, Fuxin, or Renaissance. The newest China Fuxing Train has no strings attached with any one of the three countries and that is why China can export them trains to the world.
First of all, the basic sciences are already out there and published. ! And, they were already proven by prior German, British or American experimentations that they worked. So, what’s so difficult to just copy based on proven science and come out with a better version even without knowing the original designs? In fact, not seeing the original should be an advantage. They’re not biased to a specific design, and serendipity is usually how breakthrough in science is discovered . . . .especially when you have all the right parts available for assembly. Yes, the Japanese and the Europeans had the early start on high speed rail, but within ten years, China was able to develop their own indigenous version and at the same time built 40,000 kilometers of these HSR trains. This was through copying and implementation that they learned and progressed. The Chinese have a long history of education. It is this discipline that makes copying so easy.
Yes, France is doing very well, and China, as a former backward country, has also developed very well. This is a good thing, I don't understand why you have to fight against everything.
Great one 👌 Their railway infrastructure truly is mind-boggling. BTW are there any sleeper highspeed trains in China too? And hope you have an amazing 2024 as well 💖🤗
How you stated facts about the train technology without endorsing either side was amazing. Hoping you could do a video of a Chinese high-speed train in which they have used German technology as well
Those trainstations are more like airport terminals! How impressive! Strange that on the big departure screen at 2:29 the headings of the columns are also in English but the city names, SURFACECO and status only in Chinees? Btw what is "SURFACECO" ? Also a happy new year to you!
Awesome video! I recommend you to try Beijing-Shanghai route, this is the main route for Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed railway. It has fewer stops on the way and it almost only stop at provincial capital. I found this thing because I went to Beijing many times, and even the begin and stop are same, it will take different time for each trip. If you can try main route, I believe it will be much better!
Thank you for an extremely interesting trip! I have one point of objection. Is it really necessary to make Rail Travel like Air travel. However, seeing the security checks explains why Chinese High Speed Rail Stations have separate departure and arrival areas, just like Airports! One other comment. i notice that the train was running on the LEFT hand-track of a pair of tracks. Is that the norm in China?
Yes, such checks are necessary in China because many millions of people are forbidden from travelling by high-speed train or flights and need to be kept out of the station -- that's why there's no ticket office either, but the security check helps ensure no-one is travelling on someone else's ticket.
Prolonged travel at high speed and almost 100% on time performance. Europe can only dream! I hope DB in particular is able to raise some money for track upgradation as right now their "high speed" ICE's aren't much faster than normal trains running at 160kph and below. A 500km trip takes 5hrs on a normal train (EC) and 4hrs on the ICE. That is a lot of wasted potential.
An important and critical success factor for the high speed rail is dedicated rail tracks for high speed use only. In Germany, Netherlands and Belgium high speed rolling stock often have to share tracks with slower rolling stock which undermines the potential of high speed rail. The track sharing is for many reasons which is great to see that China and Japan provided a network for high speed only.
may I ask where did you get the info about this train is based on some Japanese train and some kind of technology transfer....I did some research online, couldnt find anything to support your claim except some debates about the design was a "copy" of the E2. what about all the other trains in China, are they all Japanese trains too.
The Chinese high-speed train was not developed based on Japanese Xin Gan Xian, it was a combined tech. of highspeed tech from 4 countries, France, German, Japanese and Canadian; now the newer modes are developed with Chinese own tech, that is why they were much faster than Japanese Xin Gan Xian, going 350KM/H. Chinese HST is now head-to-head with Japanese on the development of Train going for 600KM/H
Wow, you have really had some exciting rail and ferry travel adventures. I’m wondering have you ever took the rail the United States? It is absolutely nothing like the bullet train. Is the complete opposite. In fact, rail transit in North America and even South America has nothing to write home about. If you really want, a train experience, start with the New York City subway, and then ride Amtrak. Is absolutely nothing like the bullet trains of Japan and China. 😃
Happy New Year to you! An interesting video - but in many ways I preferred it when you stayed in Europe, as you gave me so many ideas for travelling myself, not least the train jaune, and the train up to the Puy de Dome! Your non-Europe videos are very good, but I don't travel outside of Europe.... Having said that, have you ever considered going to, or returning from, Hong Kong or Vietnam or somewhere like that by train?
Don't forget - NO smoking on the train or you risk being banned from travelling high-speed for life! (Along with a long list of other reasons for being banned from all high-speed rail and air travel which affects ~10 million Chinese citizens - one of the reasons for the passport check, of course.) Excellent video focusing on the trains and journey. Best wishes for the New Year and next 100k. : )
@@NonstopEurotrip Ah... I remember this post and your reaction! By coincidence, there's actually a video clip of such a train announcement warning about such restrictions/bans if you smoke. Not sure about the "180 days" mentioned there, or the full regulations, but it's definitely a thing! If you're interested, see from 10:17 on the "China's High Speed Rail is Deadly" video just uploaded by Winston / serpentza. (Needless to say, he's not a fan of the PRC for personal and other reasons! Always good to pull in as many viewpoints as possible, I've found. : ) Cheers!
China now has the best high-speed train technology and products, and even coins can be erected on them when the operating speed of their trains reaches up to 350km/h. Unbelievable
I honestly isn't a fan of China's way of building High speed rail, that are far off city center and the size of an airport, with security and shits. Honestly nullifies all the advantage of train. I guess the only advantage is that they are capable of moving a large number of people for a given time. I'm a much bigger fan of Japan's approach where stations are often located in city center and are developed around it, and the station feels more compact and efficient. Sure the train may not ride as comfortable because of the tight curves, but it is much, much more convenient.
@@NonstopEurotrip I lived in Shenzhen. We have a traditional train station, or a "Shenzhen north station" That has high speed rail service. To go to Guangzhou, we used to be able to take a intercity train in downtown, and straight to Guangzhou downtown. That train takes 2 hours. Now, with high speed rail, it takes around 1 hour. However, because the train doesn't stop in city center, I will need to take a 40 minutes metro ride to get to the HSR station, take the HSR to go to Guangzhou South Station, and take another 30 minutes metro ride to actually go to Guangzhou's city center itself. If you do the math, yes it is actually slower and I had to make 2 transfers. This is further compounded by the fact that HSR in China don't have strict noise restrictions compared to Japan, therefore no one want to make any sort of transit oriented development around the HSR station. Instead, HSR station fronts are taken by massive plazas, that serves very little practical purposes, or serve as a direct connection to the airport (Like Shanghai Hongqiao) Japan's HSR is constructed very carefully with very rigorous study on its viability (construction cost vs economical benefits vs environmental cost), even if the line falls a bit short in terms of profitability (e.g. the Nishi Kyushu Shinkansen), they would still construct it given its massive benefits. Meanwhile, China's HSR approach is "fuck it just build it and hope for the best". The vast majority of the HSR network is redundant and provides very little benefits to the local community. This is coming from someone that has lived in China for 17 years, and witnessed its HSR boom. China's HSR feels more like a vanity project, just so that it could brag that it has the highest service speed and lengthiest in the world. Whether it actually make sense to build to such scale, the service it provides, and its competitiveness against air travel, remains subpar in my opinion. I remember that they artificially limit speed on CRH3 and CRH 380 trains so that it makes the Fuxing Hao trains "looks better", despite having similar design speed. I also had to wait for 20 minutes (!) a few times so that a faster train can pass through, where in Japan it is at most 3 - 5 minutes. Not to mention safety. China had few major crashes that had killed passengers, Railway workers and train conductors. The most notorious one is the Wenzhou train accident in 2010. They had an accident as recent as 2022, where a landslide caused a train to derail and kill the conductor. Sorry for this super uber long rant, but I really don't like how westerners brainlessly want to replicate China's HSR, without understanding its issues and implications, often just caught by the fact that "Oh it has the most" or "Oh it runs at 350". Those are honestly irrelevant. Maybe China's HSR worked for China (And that's a huge maybe, we'll see), but I don't think it should be replicated everywhere else.
There are five stations in Shenzhen. They are located in different areas, Luohu, Futian, Longgang Buji, Longhua North Station, Nanshan West Station, and there are also five stations in Guangzhou. It seems reasonable according to the current design. As for your comment that travel is inconvenient, it depends on your destination. People generally choose the nearest station to travel, for example, you live in Longhua district, then you go to the North railway Station is very convenient. By 2022, the population of Guangzhou will exceed 18 million and that of Shenzhen will exceed 17 million. That's more people than in many countries combined. As you said, it is convenient for people to save time by building stations in the center of the city like in Japan, so the question is? How do you make it so that everyone in a city of more than 10 million people can enjoy the convenience that you're talking about? I don't think it's possible, that's why Shenzhen and Guangzhou have five stations in different districts. In addition, the shape of Japanese and Chinese territory is different, and their operation plan is not suitable for China. In order to achieve your convenience, the population of the area must not exceed one million. Because it would only be enough to build a station.
If the technology wasn’t acquired legitimately, then there would have been a dispute case in WTO. Simple as that. Chinese government knows very well to obey WTO rules because they are one of the biggest beneficiary from it. And straight up theft like that would only work once, as other countries would learn it and it will make future deals of this kind much more difficult and expensive. Come on, it’s just simple common sense needed here.
Hello! I love your videos. They are very informative and high-quality, however p, if you could learn to pronounce foreign names correctly, it would be a simple touch that shows how much care you put in to these videos. It is as simple as playing the words back in google translate. For example, Fuxing would be pronounced Fushing. The x is very misleading, I know.
And I wonder why that China is so obsessed with high speed trains. As China is still seeing more cities growing with more population increasing every year.
Because the high-speed rail network can drive the economic development of the surrounding towns and cities, and the train capacity is huge, it can meet the transportation needs caused by China's large population.
@@franciscobermejo1779ummm.... Kawasaki said it's a breach of intellectual property... That's why some Japanese are still salty about Chinese HSR (I know this because my country use Fuxing). The Japanese also said that Kawasaki wouldn't get Shinkansen order anymore (maybe this is strictly for the series designed by JR Central).
I'm going there again next year to try the CR400AF, a friend invited me over for some music business and I'm excited Yeaaah China has its tofu dreg projects here n there and all the bad stuff, but if you look at it, most countries are basically the same...not much different, so why the hell not go at least a few times lol