China’s high-speed railway serves as a reminder that China is still a single-party (communist) country, where central planning and pride can result in disaster.
A few weeks ago, one of China’s shiny new bullet trains crashed into another, killing 40 people. The story hardly made the news in North America, but for Chinese and Japanese the story was huge.
Immediately after the crash, the Chinese government took the lead rail car and literally buried it. Outraged citizens demanded that the car be exhumed and an investigation launched, though few expect that this investigation will be thorough. Later, it was found that rail employees had been warning their relatives not to use the trains, since their operators had insufficient training and the trains were being run too fast.
The question is, why did China not give their operators sufficient time to train? And, why did they run the trains so fast? The answer: Japan.
Due to an ongoing rivalry with their historical archenemy, China’s rail lines had to be opened on time and had to run faster than Japan’s - no matter what. Running the trains at higher speeds than their Japanese counterparts was seen as integral to defeating Japan’s copyright infringement claims, since China claims to have improved upon Japanese technology.
Just weeks before the crash, the Chinese government released Japan-bashing reports about how their train technology was superior to Japan’s, and how Japanese patent infringement claims were groundless. China’s ministry of railways was quoted as saying that “The Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway and Japan's Shinkansen line cannot be mentioned in the same breath, as many of the technological indicators used by China's high-speed railways are far better than those used in Japan's Shinkansen.”
Despite being furious, the Japanese transport minister responded calmly, saying merely that “a heated verbal battle” was not advisable.
To the gross embarrassment of the Chinese government, the Beijing-Shanghai rail line has now been recalled for safety reasons.
At present, China has 13 high-speed railways in operation. At present, few people trust them enough to travel on them.
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"While responding to media questions concerning the safety of traveling on the high-speed line, he (chief engineer of the Ministry of Railways) said that he is fully confident in the safety of the travel link and that the passengers' safety is guaranteed."
Xinhua news, June 27, 2011
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For more information, see:
China's high-speed rail technologies better than Japanese Shinkansen
China denies Japanese rail patent infringement claims
Trains fly on Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway
China recalls bullet trains in new blow to technology
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