IntroductionThis blog post is about the High Speed Rail of the three Scandinavian countries. First of all we need to find out which countries they are. The three Scandinavian countries are Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The most exciting part of today's blog post will be Denmark as it is the newest. This post will talk about the destinations, history and trains of the Scandinavian High Speed Rail. Denmark's High Speed RailFor an extremely long time, Denmark didn't have High Speed Rail. The Danish government called it the Hour Model and this was the first High Speed link but even before that up to the year 2000, Denmark had other small tracks that came from Germany and Sweden. The Hour Model only began planning in 2013 and 2014 and there were 3 different stages to the construction. The first stage is the most popular one. It is the Copenhagen to Ringsted line which is an new 250 km/h train line between Copenhagen and Ringsted and the first stage will also include the upgrade of the Ringsted to Odense line. This will be in place from 2022. The second stage is from Aarhus to Aalborg which are a bit far from Copenhagen and a long while from Odense. Again, this stage is just upgrading the existing track to high speed rail and trains will be able to run 200 km/h to 250 km/h. The last stage is to connect everything altogether. This means you could take one train from Copenhagen to Aalborg. The last stage will be from Odense to Aarhus. This line is the most expensive and most complex bit of the line to complete and was thought to be started in 2020 but now its even harder and has been pushed back all the way to 2030. Sweden's High Speed RailCurrently, most Swedish trains run at 200 km/h but it isn't really considered as high speed rail. There are 2 series of trains that are allowed to run at 205 km/h but that is all. Other trains are also being considered as the fleet that will be able to run at 305 km/h. Existing track is soon being upgraded from 200 km/h capable to 250 km/h capable meaning existing track will soon be high speed. Other new tracks are being built to be even up to 320 km/h. Norway's High Speed RailCurrently, Norway only has 1 high speed rail link that opened in 1998. It is a 64 kilometre track between Oslo and a little town named Eidsvoll. The train also goes through the airport and acts like a shuttle from the city to the airport. The reason why the government even bothered to create a high speed track is because the airport is 48 kilometres away. Strangely enough, you have to leave the region of Oslo to get to Oslo airport. This soon won't be a lone track in Norway it will be greeted by another track named the Follo line. It is a 22 km tunnel from Oslo to a small suburban city named Ski. Talk about being green, this amazing track will remove 5800 car journeys a day, 750 trucks a day and eliminate more than 5,000 tons of C02 per year!
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IntroductionWelcome back. I'm saying this because I haven't uploaded a lot. I will try my best to release a new episode every week. This episode is about Russia's High Speed Rail and the Trans-Siberian Railway. This means this episode will be kinda split into two parts. We are going to see if Russia has a High Speed Rail network and the evolution of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Also, HAPPY HALOWEEN! Does Russia have a High Speed Rail network?Surprisingly, Russia has High Speed Rail. They have many routes that even come from Helsinki in Finland. The different routes that Russia have are the Sapsan train which goes from Moscow to St. Petersburg, the Alstom train which goes from Helsinki to St. Petersburg, the Swift train to Nizhny Novgorod, the Moscow to Berlin Swift train, the Desiro train from St. Petersburg to Veliky Novgorod and the Nevsky express. These are all the different routes of High Speed Rail in Russia. The first one is called the Sapsan train and it is the oldest. The other lines are much, much newer. The History of the Trans-Siberian RailwayThe Trans-Siberian Railway is one of the longest train routes in the world covering all of Russia and even some of China, Mongolia and South Korea. It took a long time, a lot of people and a lot of money to construct the Trans-Siberian Railway. It started construction in 1891 and ended in 1904. This means the link is very old but new routes have been added after its completion. The railway was only built to connect Moscow and the European part of Russia to Siberia. It was hard to transport goods by boat because during the winter, ferry boats were not usable and horses were slow on the iced rivers. Building roads and maniting them would be even harder and nobody wanted to do anything with roads so the only other way was to build a railway. Many projects were proposed and even different ones were all declined and took them 10 years to finally find a project everybody wanted. A European financer named Baron Henri Hottinguer who said the project would cost 35 million pounds. To create the rail network, 62,000 men were hired. What the Trans-Siberian is nowAfter over 100 years, the network had some changes. The route goes from Moscow to Vladivostok which are both in Russia but the rail goes through Beijing and Mongolia as well. (Vladivostok is at the very edge of Russia next to Japan). New tours and routes by different companies are being made all the time. One company is selling a ticket to the Trans-Siberian and is also saying they have luxury cabins and everything. Sadly, there are a lot of fake scams and the safest is to buy your ticket at the Moscow station a few days before. Because I don't live there, I can't tell you the price but the Sapsan train is very cheap. It is only around $200 per person two ways.
IntroductionEurostar is a huge part of Europe's High Speed Rail but if you see actually how big the network is, you'll be surprised. Eurostar doesn't have a very large network and it is only located in 4 countries. Britain, France, Belgium and The Netherlands. The main link is from London to Paris but before we talk about the routes, stations and all other things, let's talk about who created the link and when it first opened. The tunnel between the English Channel first got to work in 1974 but got aborted and was restarted in 1986. It was in planning for two years until it started construction in 1988. The tunnel took a long time to finish and finished in 1993. How It StartedThe tunnel wasn't touched by trains for a year and the first service was on the 14th of November 1994 and it ran from London Waterloo International Station to Paris Gare du Nord in France and to Brussels in Belgium. In 1995, Eurostar trains were going as high as 171.5 km/h and in 1996 a second station, Ashford International opened. This meant that people could come from 2 different stations in London. In 2007, people now came from London St Pancras instead of Waterloo because they needed to refurbish the station. Not many things were done after that. Now let's look at the records. The English Channel tunnel has the longest bit of underwater track. In Britain, a Eurostar train went 334 km/h and that was the fastest in all of Britain. Regional FranceThe train from London can take 3 turns. One to Paris, one to Belgium and the Netherlands and one to regional France. They go through Disneyland and at Lyon station, the train can turn to go to Marseille or Bourg-St-Maurice where the train finally terminates. The full service takes 7 hours and 51 minutes. The line opened at the same time as all the other routes and is the route that has the least amount of records and milestones so many people don't acknowledge this route. It is also the least used past Disneyland. I also love that Disneyland gets its own station! The Rest of ItThere isn't much after that except for Belgium and the Netherlands. What I love about the Eurostar is that everything starts in London and then the train takes a route to either Paris, France or Belgium and the Netherlands. Belgium has the station Brussels and Antwerp and the London train turns after Lille station. It goes past the Belgium-Netherlands border and arrives in Rotterdam and then Amsterdam where it goes back to London and starts the route again. The CostsI'm going to save you the pain of looking online for tickets and do it myself so you can use the information. The price comes in a few different ways. The cheapest tickets from London to Paris are the earliest trains and latest trains between Tuesday and Friday. The standard ticket for the first, second and last route is 85 euros or $134. All other times are 102 euros or $161 one way. To go to Regional France, there are only 2 - 3 trains per day and each ticket is approximately 150 euros or $237. The last route is London to Amsterdam. Each ticket is around 100 euros to $170. The Eurostar also has different classes but for a 2 hour trip I don't think it's worth it. ImagesImage 1 is a map of the rail link, Image 2 is an image of the train, Image 3 is the Business Lounge you get access to if you have a Business Premier ticket and Image 4 is and image of the station, London St Pancras.
IntroductionIt's been quite a while since I did my last post. I'm very sorry for the long delay. Before we get started, let me tell you about the exciting new things I will be talking about in this season. I will be talking about China's High Speed Rail, Amtrak (America's Regional Rail) and Eurostar (Europe's High Speed Rail Network). Once all of those topics have been concluded I will move onto Season 3. Now let's get started. In today's blog post, I will talk about the trains that have been used on the Japanese High Speed Rail Network and the upcoming projects that have been planned and have already started construction. The TrainsIn the first part of this mini-series, I told you about the first few trains. I will start from the 300 series Shinkansen train. The 300 Series was first introduced in 1992. They were constructed between 1990 and 1998 and they scraped the trains between 2007 and 2012. The last one ended its service that year. These trains actually replaced the 100 series and ran on the first two lines that opened. The Sanyo and Tokaido lines. Next is the 400 Series. This is a very stylish train. It had a pointy, grey nose, grey body and a green stripe along the body. They came into operation only 4 months after the 300 series and got scraped in 2010. It was used in the Yamagata Mini-Shinkansen line. They were constructed from 1992 - 1995, got refurbished between 1999 - 2001 and got scraped between 2008 and 2010. The next series is the 500 series. This train only ran on the Sanyo line. It came into service, replacing the 0 series and started operation in 1997 it is still in operation to this day. The train got built between 1995 and 1998. Sadly, only 9 of these trains have ever been made but they had some of the coolest livires I've seen on a train. Let's move on from the 0-9 series to the E series. The next train is the E5 Series. If you have ever been or lived in Japan you have seen this train. It's that weirdly shaped nose, green train. They started operation in 2011, started construction from 2009 till now and haven't been refurbished. They are used on the Tohoku and Hokkaido Shinkansen lines. Upcoming Project 1 - The Chuo LineThis is my favourite line of all! This is my favourite line because its powered by Maglev. Maglev is a rail link that goes from Tokyo to Osaka. The line between Tokyo to Nagoya will open in 2027. It will then be extended to Osaka in 2045. The Tokyo to Nagoya part has been under construction since 2014 and the part to Osaka is still under planning. This maglev technology means that trains will be able to float on the track and go to speeds of up to 800 km/h. Instead of waiting 2.5 hours to use the Tokaido line, the Chuo line will take just 67 minutes. The line cost $67 billion dollars for 290 km of track. Only to Nagoya!! Upcoming Project 2 - The Hokkaido LineThe Hokkaido Line is another upcoming project. This is a half-half project because the first part is already opened. This part of the line goes from Shin-Aomori to Shin-Hakodate and it opened in 2016. The second part of the line will go from Hakodate to Sapporo which is the main city of the island of Hokkaido. This part of the line is the latest line to open and will open in 2030. In the paragraph about the trains above, I told you about the E5 series. The green train. This train will be mainly used on this line and is why JR (the Japanese rail company), made the trains in the first place. Picture 1 - E5 series train
Picture 2 - 300 series train Picture 3 - 400 series train Picture 4 - 500 series train with special body Picture 5 - 500 series train Picture 6 - Hokkaido Line The Third Line - The Tohoku LineThe next line to open was the Tohoku Shinkansen line. This line is a bit complex. It is a bit confusing as 3 other lines are coming out of it. It's very complicated on a map. It runs from Tokyo to Shin-Aomori which is the last station before moving to Hokkaido. The stations include, Tokyo, Ueno, Omiya, Oyama, Utsunomiya, Nasu-Shiobara, Shin-Shirakawa, Koriyama, Fukushima, Shiroishi-Zao, Sendai, Furukawa, Kurikoma-Kogen, Ichinoseki, Mizusawa-Esashi, Kitakami, Shin-Hanamaki, Morioka, Iwate-Numakunai, Ninohe, Hachinohe, Shichinohe-Towada, Shin-Aomori. The line opened between 1982 and 2010. In 1982 the line opened from Tokyo to Morioka and other lines like the Joetsu line and the 2 mini Shinkansen lines opened before it got extended all the way to Shin-Aomori in 2010. The Fourth Line - The Joetsu LineThe fourth line to open is the Joetsu Shinkansen. This line is a pretty small line and it runs from Omiya to Niigata. The line goes from Omiya to Takasaki and then takes a turn and goes up until it reaches the shore of Niigata. The stations are Takasaki, Jomo-Kogen, Echigo-Yuzawa, Urasa, Nagaoka, Tsumbane and Niigata. It opened all at once in 1982 and uses the track of the Tohoku line until Omiya. It is a pretty busy line and has an annual ridership of 35 million people. The Fifth Line - The Hokuriku LineThe fifth line to open is the Hokuriku line. This is also a very confusing line. If you look at the map below, you will see that it is in 2 colours. This is because the line is operated by both, JR East and West. It runs between Takasaki and Kanazawa. It opened between 1997 and 2015. It took the longest to open so far and it is the longest line in Japan. This is line is as used as the others but it will be extended all the way down to Kyoto and Osaka. With the new extension, the line might reach the 500km mark. The stations are Takasaki, Annaka-Haruna, Karuizawa, Sakudaira, Uedo, Nagano, Iyama, Joetsu, Itoigawa, Kurobe-Onsen, Toyama, Shin-Takaoka and Kanazawa. The Sixth Line - The Kyushu LineThe sixth line to open is the newest line opening between 2004 and 2011. The line runs from Hakata all the way to Kagoshima. A new route on this line will also open going to Nagasaki. The stations on the first route include, Hakata, Shin-Tosu, Kurume, Chigoku-Funagoya, Shin-Omuta, Shin-Tamana, Kumamoto, Yatsushiro, Shin-Minamata, Izumi, Sendai and Kagoshima. The Nagasaki route is a very short one. The stations are Takeo-Onsen, Ureshino-Onsen, Shin-Omura, Isahaya and Nagasaki. The first part from Kagoshima was opened in 2004 and then connected to Hakata in 2015. This is the second part of the Japan High Speed Rail series. In the next part, I will talk about the trains and the upcoming projects. Photos will also be added to the other parts when Part 3 gets uploaded. Thank You!
Introduction to The Rail LinkThe Japanese High Speed Rail Link is the second largest high speed rail link in the world. It is also the oldest High Speed Rail link in the world opening all the way back in 1964 and the latest line opening in 2030. The rail reaches all corners of the country including Hokkaido as well. In this week's blog post, I will tell you about the history of the Rail and many more things. This blog post maybe split into 2 or more parts because it will be quite lengthy. Where it All StartedThe Japanese High Speed rail link first opened in 1964 by the company, JR Central. The line went from Tokyo through Yokohama and Kyoto before arriving at Osaka. The stops included, Tokyo, Yokohama, Odawara, Atami, Mishima, Shin-Fuji, Shizuoka, Kakegawa, Hamamatsu, Toyohashi, Mikawa-Anjo, Nagoya, Gifu-Hashima, Maibara, Kyoto and Osaka. The first Shinkansen train started operation 56 years ago on the 1st of October 1964. It was called the 0 series Shinkansen. Sadly, these trains retired in 2008 and none remain in operation however, 27 of them have been preserved. Shinkansen TrainsNow you know where this whole rail link started, lets see the trains that it used over the years. First up we have the 0 series Shinkansen. This train started operation when the High Speed rail link opened in 1964 and ended its service in 2008. They were all white with glass in the middle and a square-like nose at the front. Next, we have the 100 series. The 100 series train started operation in 1985 and left service just back in 2012. They were constructed in 1984 till 1992 and refurbished between 2000 - 2004. Something strange was that they started scraping the trains between 1999 and 2012 which is before they got refurbished. Why refurbish a train if you are going to scrap it the next year. What a waste. The last train I will describe will be the 200 series Shinkansen. They started service earlier than the 100 series and started in 1982. They ended their service in 2013. They were refurbished between 1999 - 2002 and mainly served on the Tohoku Line which ran from Tokyo to Osaka. I will write about the other trains in a separate blog post. The Second LineThe second line is the Sanyo Line and it opened between 1972 and 1975. It runs between Osaka and Hakata. The stops include, Shin-Osaka, Shin-Kobe, Nishi-Akashi, Himeji, Aioi, Okayama, Shin-Kurashiki, Fukuyama, Shin-Onomichi, Mihara, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Shin-Iwakuni, Tokuyama, Shin-Yamaguchi, Asa, Shin-Shimonoseki, Kokura and Hakata. The line is run by JR West and the first series of trains to run on the line was as well, the 0 Series and currently on the line serves the 500 Series, 700 Series and N700 Series. I will add more parts to this series in the following days so stay tuned! This is just Part 1. Thanks for reading.
Introduction to the ProgramAs you may know, NSW and all of Australia for that fact, does not have high speed rail. It does have regional rail and Interstate rail as well as scenic passages such as The Ghan and the Indian Pacific but none of these rail links are high speed. There is a simple reason to why Australia still doesn't have High Speed Rail. It's because we have so much farmland which is in the way of making track. Luckily, Australia's and New South Wales' government has got a plan. Today I will be telling you about this plan, where it will go, when it will open and so many more things about New South Wales' High Speed Rail. Planning is nearly complete and construction is on its way. Where will the Rail go?The New South Wales High Speed Rail won't have just one route. It will have many routes. The first one will be going through the T1 line and the Blue Mountains before going through Lithgow, Bathurst and terminating in Orange and Parkes. The second line will be the Central Coast line. It will also go through existing track, up to Newcastle and go through new track such as Gosford and Port Macquarie where the train will terminate. The third line will be going through the T4 line until Wollongong and go all the way to Nowra in the South Coast. To top it all off, the last line will be the most popular line. It will connect Sydney by High Speed Rail to Goulburn and Canberra. Sadly, nothing has been planned to go to other states and cities like Melbourne and Brisbane. Maybe something like this will be thought about later. How long will it take to get from one place to another?The High Speed Rail network will slash travel times massively. Here are some of the times from major cities and stations. From Sydney to Canberra, it currently takes 4 hours and 7 minutes on normal rail and on High Speed Rail it will be a short 1 hour. That's 3 hours and 7 minutes faster! From Sydney to Newcastle it currently takes 2 hours and 35 minutes on train. With the High Speed Rail, it will take 45 minutes! I'm not going to type them all out but I will leave a picture of the timetable at the bottom of this blog. More things about the project.Because Australia is absolutely clueless about what they are doing, they are learning from other networks in Japan, the UK and France. They also teamed up with many different teams in the UK to learn more about new High Speed Rail projects in the United Kingdom. If you want to learn more about the High Speed Rail project, please click on the link here: New South Wales High Speed Rail. BLOG 6 |
AuthorI'd love to share my knowledge about trains with the world. Archives
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