China to build high-speed rail link to Europe

THE journey from London to Beijing by rail could take just two days under a Chinese plan to build an international network for trains that can travel almost as fast as aircraft.

Three networks are planned, with the Britain to China route to be extended to Singapore, and built within a decade.

Passengers on a second route would travel to the north of China and through Russia and on to Germany, where the network would join the European railway system.

A third network would extend south through Vietnam, Thailand, Burma and Malaysia, the London newspaper The Daily Telegraph reports. The trains are expected to travel at more than 320 km/h.

''We are aiming for the trains to run almost as fast as aeroplanes,'' a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering said.

Last year China unveiled the world's fastest train, the Harmony Express, which can reach 350 km/h.

High-speed rail networks exist in Japan and Europe, but not in Australia.

The chief executive of the research group CRC for Rail Innovation, David George, said high-speed rail was a well-established technology and it was time Australia had an in-depth look at using it.

The chief executive of the Australasian Railway Association, Bryan Nye, said Australia already had the market for Asian-style high-speed rail, especially in the Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane corridor. He said China recently tested a train at 380 km/h and had made a 1000-kilometre journey in two hours 50 minutes.

''If we could get a Sydney-Melbourne trip to three hours, or just under, it would be worthwhile and competitive,'' he said.

David George agreed. ''By the time you've gone to the airport and struggled through the traffic, booked in advance and then sat around, a three-hour journey between Sydney and Melbourne or Sydney and Brisbane starts to look very attractive.''

He said high-speed rail was not just a technology for First World countries.

''Poland, Saudi Arabia, Morocco are seriously looking at, or introducing high-speed rail.''

Australia needed to build extra rail capacity, he said.

''[Our] urban rail networks and many of [our] freight networks need extra capacity.''

A high-speed rail system could be ''transformational'' in terms of its impact, he said.

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