bladerunner
Banned Idiot
Todays article by Olivia Chung in Asia Times, carrying the story about Chinas railways and the sacking of Liu Zhijun, the minister of Railways and has been in charge of Chinas HSR development for corrupt practices
".........Liu, who served as a railway official for more than 20 years, headed the railway system, the world's largest, since 2003, championing in particular the development of high-speed trains. He is the most senior party official to be toppled by corruption.................."
This has revived a puzzling question . on my part , deriving from a article I read not so long ago. I have not been able to track down the full article that the writer quotes from to see if there are other aspects he has failed to mention
. "The pace of expanding the system -- the Beijing-Shanghai line, completed after a mere 2.5 years, is expected tocommence operations this summer -- has led to questions over the quality and safety of what's being built. In particular, a little-known technical issue of the material used for the track foundations, apparently something called "fly ash." Here's what the South China Morning Post hadto say:
The problem lies in the use of high-quality fly ash, a fine powder chemically identical to volcanic ash, collected from the chimneys of coal-fired power plants. When mixed with cement and gravel, it can give the tracks' concrete base a lifespan of 100 years.
..........According to a study by the First Survey and Design Institute of China Railways in 2008, coal-fired power plants on the mainland could produce enough high-quality fly ash for the construction of 100 kilometres of high-speed railway tracks a year.
But more than 1,500 kilometres of track have been laid annually for the past five years.
This year 4,500 kilometres of track will be laid with the completion of the world's longest high-speed railway line, between Beijing and Shanghai. Fly ash required for that 1,318-kilometre line would be more than that produced by all the coal-fired power plants in the world...
...Professor Wang Lan , lead scientist at the Cement and New Building Materials Research Institute under the China Building Materials Academy, said that given poor quality control on the mainland, the use of low-quality fly ash, and other low-grade construction materials, was "almost inevitable" in high-speed railway construction.
Marco DiCapua of the Deptartment of Energy. He also writes: .................."
Is there any bright young engineers who can come up with any suggestions on how they are getting around this problem , other than what Prof Wang Lan is suggesting, that is to get the planned kilometeres of HSR built, you are going to have to go with lower quality specifications?, what would be a reasonable expectation of the life time of lower spec tracks. Its also rather disappointing that no numbers are given as to how much fly ash there is around even if it is a poorer grade or how much track could you expect to build with it and what the durability is etc etc.
Not only can this be a risk for serious accidents but how about recouping the cost of your initial outlay before the whole thing starts to break down. There are plenty of articles on the internet such as one by the ...
which show that Chinas HSR is bleeding red ink all over the place. Futhermore that arent expected to show a profit before 2030, by which time these sub standard tracks that Prof Wang Lan is hinting about, could be giving problems long before the outlay is recouped. Well it certainly defeats the argument that " It would certainly cost much less to build the high-speed rail system (and other basic infrastructure) now, than, say, in 10 years’ time when the financial, social and political costs would be much higher than it is."
cheaper to build them now then later"
"... HSR Rail Not Profitable.
The not-so hidden cost of the high speed rail network
• Source: Global Times
• [09:12 January 07 2011]
• Comments
In the midst of a high-speed rail (HSR) construction boom, China has built the world's largest HSR network, with about 7,500 kilometers in service and more than 10,000 kilometers under construction as of November 2010. However, China's aggressive investment in HSR will lead to a great, if hidden, increase in the government's financial liabilities.
China's Ministry of Railways (MOR) is leading HSR construction. According to a report from the National Audit Office, the Ministry of Railways (MOR) was 1.3 trillion yuan ($195.50 billion) in debt in 2009, with 854.8 billion yuan ($128.21 billion) in short-term debt and 448.6 billion yuan ($67.33 billion) in long-term debt.
A report from China Minsheng Bank showed that the rapidly growing debt pushed up the interest that MOR had to pay, rising to 40 billion yuan ($6 billion) in 2009. China was expected to extend its HSR network to 16,000 kilometers by the end of 2010, at a cost of more than 2.6 trillion yuan ($390 billion), about the same cost as 1,300 Boeing 747 airliners.
Despite the government's generous funding, the HSR network won't turn a profit until 2030. What's more, no one can guarantee whether the government will benefit from the HSR sector afterwards. Opening in 2008, the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway lost more than 700 million yuan ($105 million) in its first year of operation. This line transported 18.7 million passengers over that period, only 62.3 percent of the expected number.
Due to the huge investment in HSR, the MOR will be drowning in debt after 2014. The ministry relies heavily on its 50 billion yuan ($7.52 billion) annual budget for railways construction. However, HSR construction loans grew to 73.3 billion yuan ($11 billion) in 2009, highly exceeding the budget, and are expected to only continue to grow over the next few years.
The MOR is being run like an enterprise, in order to obtain easy access to financing while enjoying the preferential treatment as part of the government. An industry insider said that MOR has transferred its debts to a new asset management company, in effect offloading its financial liabilities. Meanwhile, as a part of government, MOR's debts will be covered by national revenue, which means that the money will end up coming out of the taxpayers' pockets.
The lightning pace of HSR construction will inevitably increase both the burdens on the residents and hurt economic development. What's worse, the HSR system doesn't look like it will be profitable in either the long or short run. It should be noted that the MOR is putting a lot of effort into construction to earn more revenue, rather than to improve service to serve the public interest. The ticket price hike at the end of last year illustrates that. It contradicts the primary purpose of an arm of the government - to serve the public."
".........Liu, who served as a railway official for more than 20 years, headed the railway system, the world's largest, since 2003, championing in particular the development of high-speed trains. He is the most senior party official to be toppled by corruption.................."
This has revived a puzzling question . on my part , deriving from a article I read not so long ago. I have not been able to track down the full article that the writer quotes from to see if there are other aspects he has failed to mention
. "The pace of expanding the system -- the Beijing-Shanghai line, completed after a mere 2.5 years, is expected tocommence operations this summer -- has led to questions over the quality and safety of what's being built. In particular, a little-known technical issue of the material used for the track foundations, apparently something called "fly ash." Here's what the South China Morning Post hadto say:
The problem lies in the use of high-quality fly ash, a fine powder chemically identical to volcanic ash, collected from the chimneys of coal-fired power plants. When mixed with cement and gravel, it can give the tracks' concrete base a lifespan of 100 years.
..........According to a study by the First Survey and Design Institute of China Railways in 2008, coal-fired power plants on the mainland could produce enough high-quality fly ash for the construction of 100 kilometres of high-speed railway tracks a year.
But more than 1,500 kilometres of track have been laid annually for the past five years.
This year 4,500 kilometres of track will be laid with the completion of the world's longest high-speed railway line, between Beijing and Shanghai. Fly ash required for that 1,318-kilometre line would be more than that produced by all the coal-fired power plants in the world...
...Professor Wang Lan , lead scientist at the Cement and New Building Materials Research Institute under the China Building Materials Academy, said that given poor quality control on the mainland, the use of low-quality fly ash, and other low-grade construction materials, was "almost inevitable" in high-speed railway construction.
Marco DiCapua of the Deptartment of Energy. He also writes: .................."
Is there any bright young engineers who can come up with any suggestions on how they are getting around this problem , other than what Prof Wang Lan is suggesting, that is to get the planned kilometeres of HSR built, you are going to have to go with lower quality specifications?, what would be a reasonable expectation of the life time of lower spec tracks. Its also rather disappointing that no numbers are given as to how much fly ash there is around even if it is a poorer grade or how much track could you expect to build with it and what the durability is etc etc.
Not only can this be a risk for serious accidents but how about recouping the cost of your initial outlay before the whole thing starts to break down. There are plenty of articles on the internet such as one by the ...
which show that Chinas HSR is bleeding red ink all over the place. Futhermore that arent expected to show a profit before 2030, by which time these sub standard tracks that Prof Wang Lan is hinting about, could be giving problems long before the outlay is recouped. Well it certainly defeats the argument that " It would certainly cost much less to build the high-speed rail system (and other basic infrastructure) now, than, say, in 10 years’ time when the financial, social and political costs would be much higher than it is."
cheaper to build them now then later"
"... HSR Rail Not Profitable.
The not-so hidden cost of the high speed rail network
• Source: Global Times
• [09:12 January 07 2011]
• Comments
In the midst of a high-speed rail (HSR) construction boom, China has built the world's largest HSR network, with about 7,500 kilometers in service and more than 10,000 kilometers under construction as of November 2010. However, China's aggressive investment in HSR will lead to a great, if hidden, increase in the government's financial liabilities.
China's Ministry of Railways (MOR) is leading HSR construction. According to a report from the National Audit Office, the Ministry of Railways (MOR) was 1.3 trillion yuan ($195.50 billion) in debt in 2009, with 854.8 billion yuan ($128.21 billion) in short-term debt and 448.6 billion yuan ($67.33 billion) in long-term debt.
A report from China Minsheng Bank showed that the rapidly growing debt pushed up the interest that MOR had to pay, rising to 40 billion yuan ($6 billion) in 2009. China was expected to extend its HSR network to 16,000 kilometers by the end of 2010, at a cost of more than 2.6 trillion yuan ($390 billion), about the same cost as 1,300 Boeing 747 airliners.
Despite the government's generous funding, the HSR network won't turn a profit until 2030. What's more, no one can guarantee whether the government will benefit from the HSR sector afterwards. Opening in 2008, the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway lost more than 700 million yuan ($105 million) in its first year of operation. This line transported 18.7 million passengers over that period, only 62.3 percent of the expected number.
Due to the huge investment in HSR, the MOR will be drowning in debt after 2014. The ministry relies heavily on its 50 billion yuan ($7.52 billion) annual budget for railways construction. However, HSR construction loans grew to 73.3 billion yuan ($11 billion) in 2009, highly exceeding the budget, and are expected to only continue to grow over the next few years.
The MOR is being run like an enterprise, in order to obtain easy access to financing while enjoying the preferential treatment as part of the government. An industry insider said that MOR has transferred its debts to a new asset management company, in effect offloading its financial liabilities. Meanwhile, as a part of government, MOR's debts will be covered by national revenue, which means that the money will end up coming out of the taxpayers' pockets.
The lightning pace of HSR construction will inevitably increase both the burdens on the residents and hurt economic development. What's worse, the HSR system doesn't look like it will be profitable in either the long or short run. It should be noted that the MOR is putting a lot of effort into construction to earn more revenue, rather than to improve service to serve the public interest. The ticket price hike at the end of last year illustrates that. It contradicts the primary purpose of an arm of the government - to serve the public."
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