| Beijing–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway Wuhan–Guangzhou Section 京广高速铁路武广段 |
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| Overview | |||
| Type | High-speed rail | ||
| Status | Operational | ||
| Locale | China | ||
| Termini | Wuhan Guangzhou South |
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| Stations | 18 | ||
| Daily ridership | 56,400[1] | ||
| Operation | |||
| Opened | December 26, 2009 (Wuhan–Guangzhou North) January 30, 2010 (Guangzhou North–Guangzhou South) |
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| Operator(s) | China Railway High-speed | ||
| Rolling stock | CRH2C, CRH3C, CRH380A | ||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 968 km (601 mi) | ||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Standard gauge | ||
| Minimum radius | 7,000 meters | ||
| Operating speed | 350 km/h (217 mph) | ||
| Maximum incline | 20‰ | ||
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The Wuguang High-Speed Railway (simplified Chinese: 武广高速铁路; traditional Chinese: 武廣高速鐵路; pinyin: Wǔguǎng Gāosù Tiělù), short for Beijing–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway, Wuhan–Guangzhou Section, is a 968-kilometre (601 mi)[2] high-speed rail line, operated by China Railway High-speed (CRH), connecting Wuhan (Hubei) and Guangzhou (Guangdong), in the People's Republic of China. It is the world's fastest train service,[3] initially using coupled CRH2C and CRH3C trains which average 313 kilometres per hour (194 mph) in non-stop commercial service.
The line is part of the future 2100-km long Beijing–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway, while the Beijing–Shijiazhuang and Shijiazhuang–Wuhan sections are still under construction and set to open by the end of 2011.
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When the line opened, the trains had a maximum in-service speed of 350 km/h (217 mph).[4] Each train consists of two eight-car electric multiple units coupled together to make a 16-car train. The passenger capacity of the train is about 1114 (CRH3C×2) or 1220 (CRH2C×2). The trains are based on technology developed by Siemens (CRH3) and Kawasaki (CRH2) modified to the standards of China Railway High-speed. The trains used on the line are manufactured in China.[3][5]
On December 3, 2010, the new CRH380A trainset started serving this line.[6]
The first commercial trains left Wuhan and Guangzhou North at 9:00 am on December 26, 2009, and reached their destinations in three hours, compared with ten and a half hours for the previous service.[5][7]
From December 28, 2009,[note 1] until Guangzhou South Station was opened on 30 January 2010, 28 passenger train services run on the line daily each way. Of these 28 trains, two run between Wuhan and Changsha South, five run between Changsha South and Guangzhou North, and 21 run between Wuhan and Guangzhou North.
Nonstop trains, now cancelled, covered the 922-km long journey in a scheduled 02h57m (Southbound) or 02h58m (Northbound).[note 2] This is an average speed of 313 kilometres per hour (194 mph) between stations. Before this line was opened, the fastest commercial train service between stations was the train run between Lorraine TGV and Champagne TGV in France, averaging 279 kilometres per hour (173 mph).[8]
Guangzhou South Railway Station was opened on 30 January 2010, just before the Chinese New Year. Trains arrive at or depart from Guangzhou South instead of Guangzhou North since then. During the first 56 days in 2010, the railway transported 1.108 million people, or 43 thousand per day. The total ticket income was about ¥700 million, exceeding earlier predictions.[9]
More trains have been added to the route since March 3, 2010.
Since July 1, 2010, coupled trains have been replaced by single trains, and service frequency were doubled. The two non-stop 03h08m-long services between Wuhan and Guangzhou South had been replaced by six 03h16m-long services with one stop in Changsha South. The 03h16m-long one stop service is denoted with departure time on the hour. I.e. 08:00, 14:00, 16:00.
On September 20, 2010, even more trains were added. There were then 75 trains in each direction on weekdays and 80 trains in each direction on weekends. The average train interval had been cut to 11 minutes. On October 1, 2010 during the National holidays, the railway line transported 118 thousand people in a single day.[10]
In August 2011 the maximum speed of Chinese high-speed trains was reduced to 300km/h (186 mph) following the Wenzhou train collision. In August 2011 the fastest trains between Wuhan and Guangzhou South, with one stop at Changsha South, had a scheduled trip time of 3 hours and 33 minutes.[11]
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Legend
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Construction work began on June 23, 2005. The line cost approximately CN¥116.6 billion.[12] Xu Fangliang was the general engineer in charge of designing the line.[5]
468 km of the railway line is laid on bridges, and 177 km is in tunnels, totaling 2/3 of the entire length. There are 684 bridges and 226 tunnels along the line.[13] The signalling system deployed on the line is CTCS-3.[14]
There are eighteen stations on the line. Fourteen of them are opened for passenger service. The northern terminal, Wuhan Railway Station was open simultaneously with the railway line. Guangzhou South station was opened later on January 30, 2010. Lechang East and Yingde West stations are under construction. Wulongquan East is an overtaking station which is not open for service.
On December 9, 2009, a train achieved a top speed of 394.2 kilometres per hour (244.9 mph) and took 02h55m to travel from Guangzhou South to Wuhan during a test run.[5][15]
The second class fare is about ¥0.46 per kilometer and the first class fare is 60% higher. Deluxe class is also available on CRH3 trains, which is about 80% higher than second class. Like other train services in China, insurance of ¥0.0011722 per kilometer is included for every ticket. The ratemaking distance is based on the existing Jingguang Railway, not the actual rail distance of the new railway. Hence, though the actual rail distance between Wuhan and Guangzhou South is 968 km, 1069 km is charged. The ticket price between the two terminal stations is ¥490 and ¥780 ($75 and $115 in U.S. currency).[16]
With an average speed 4 times faster, the fare for the high-speed railway is also about 4 times of the ordinary railway. Some believe this is too high for the public. RMB490 is about 15% of the average monthly income of workers in Guangzhou. [17] After opening of the high-speed railway, 13 out of 45 ordinary trains were canceled, a decision criticized to have harmed the welfare of low-income workers. [18] Hence, the existing passengers complain that they are "forced to travel high-speed".[19]
China Southern Airlines, a national airline with one of two hubs in Guangzhou, spoke of concern over eroding market share from competition. Thirty-eight of 160 plus China Southern domestic routes will compete with the rail line. The airline has aggressively cut fares, slashing the advance purchase price of flights between Wuhan and Guangzhou by almost half.[20]
Tan Wangeng, president of China Southern Airlines, said, "In the long run, the coming of high-speed railway age is an opportunity rather than challenge to our airline company. China Southern is expecting cooperation with the railway company to extend the market and develop more packaged travel products for the passengers."[12]
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