In general the formula is something like d = (a*c)(a - t) where d is the maximum supported distance, and a is the speed of planes, t is the speed of trains and c is the cost of going to an airport. so if a = 600km/hr, t = 300km/h and c is 1.5 hour, we have a limit of 600*1.5(600-300) = 450km.
where d is the maximum supported distance, and a is the speed of planes, t is the speed of trains and c is the cost of going to an airport. so if a = 600km/hr, t = 300km/h and c is 1.5 hour, we have a limit of 600*1.5
This is the formula for equal city center to city center travel times. The plane and train speeds in that formula are travel speed, that is, departure to arrival average speeds (which, for both planes and trains, depend on distance if top speed is the same), and "time to the airport" is the sum of those for arrival and departure airports. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
How many China - Europe planes are there each days ? If the market is large enough filling up the line with even a small share of this market might be possible... Un roi sans divertissement est un homme plein de misères
"We have also already carried out the prospecting and survey work for the European network, and Central and Eastern European countries are keen for us to start," Mr Wang said.
Huh!? Some runaway boasting here...
Elsewhere, it seems like they are mixing up high-speed and conventional projects:
Mr Wang said the route of the three lines had yet to be decided, but that construction for the South East Asian line had already begun in the southern province of Yunnan and that Burma was about to begin building its link. China has offered to bankroll the Burmese line in exchange for the country's rich reserves of lithium, a metal widely used in batteries. Currently, the only rail line that links China to South East Asia is an antiquated track built by the French in Vietnam a century ago. The Asian Development Bank has recently agreed a second £27 million loan as part of the £93 reconstruction of Cambodia's network, which should finish by 2013. The cost of the lines from Cambodia to Singapore and then from Vietnam to China could be roughly £400 million.
Mr Wang said the route of the three lines had yet to be decided, but that construction for the South East Asian line had already begun in the southern province of Yunnan and that Burma was about to begin building its link. China has offered to bankroll the Burmese line in exchange for the country's rich reserves of lithium, a metal widely used in batteries.
Currently, the only rail line that links China to South East Asia is an antiquated track built by the French in Vietnam a century ago. The Asian Development Bank has recently agreed a second £27 million loan as part of the £93 reconstruction of Cambodia's network, which should finish by 2013. The cost of the lines from Cambodia to Singapore and then from Vietnam to China could be roughly £400 million.
The HSR lines would cost much more than that. Vietnam has plans for a HSR line, discussed here. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
I wrote about some of those in Another Great Game almost exactly four years ago. Since then, there was not much progress outside China. In particular, Kazakhstan's bold New Silk Road project, though it was supposed to have the financing, remained on the drawing boards, only one long section (though the politically most risky: from Iran across Turkmenistan into Kazakhstan itself) is in construction, and that AFAIK in broad gauge. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
