International Railroad Discussion > China - the Urban Underground (RR)

Sometimes you find train articles in strange places.
This from current issue of Business Week, June 18, 2018.
While it is a 2 pg advertisement it is worth reading.

http://www.bjreview.com/Current_Issue/Editor_Choice/201805/t20180518_800129940.html

More than 10 million people ride the 22 subway lines in Beijing every day, making the intermingled metro system an indispensable part of the city's urban life.

But things were very different just 10 years ago, when Beijing only had a handful of subway lines. In the 1980s, the city's first two subway lines dominated underground transportation until the turn of the century, when more lines were finally added.

In recent years especially, the subway network has expanded considerably in megacities. At the same time, many other cities have hopped on the metro map in China. The lengthening city subway networks connect suburban districts with central areas, reduce commuter time and make people's life more convenient. This is the epitome of urban development in the past 40 years since reform and opening up began.............................

BobP Wrote:
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> Sometimes you find train articles in strange places.
> This from current issue of Business Week, June 18, 2018.
> While it is a 2 pg advertisement it is worth reading.

Thanks for the link. Several interesting topics covered, so yup, worth reading.

To this day, rail transportation is still the best way to scale in terms of increased use (ridership). Beijing is actually late to the game, as many other cities (London, New York City, Paris, Tokyo, others) have already figured out that underground rail network is the way to go. Dig tunnels without the hype (Hyperloop, LAX car shuttle, O'Hare "skate" shuttle, others).

However, China did what we refused to do, which is to spend resources on research to grow the domestic industry to help the railroad business, instead of relying on foreign organizations (Europe, Japan). No need to "reinvent" transportation, just refine wisely.

After reading this article, there's temptation to use the expansion of subways as a way to "grow" the economy - that logic only helps the real estate interests, and in my opinion, they are the most responsible for creating congestion in the first place.

In many cities, subway lines were built to serve already existing population corridors, for example, Japan replaced their streetcar lines with subways to help ground traffic (buses and automobiles), while at the same time, retained the ridership of people who already travelled that corridor by rail. Recently, surface train stations have been "converted" to subway stations (especially at terminus), primarily to add more usable prime real estate at ground level, especially in Tokyo.

But real estate folks need to realize that Japan is doing that AFTER ridership has approached saturation on their trains - they didn't skip that step for the sake of greed.

I'm actually in Shanghai right now, on a two-week teaching gig. The subway is more than that. Some lines break above ground when well out of the city center, have more distance between stations, and really fly. The distinction between a subway and commuter railroad is non-existent. It's an incredible system.

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