High Speed Rail Reaches Tibet's Mountains

The new line's Fuxing bullet trains, independently developed by China, are now transporting passengers in Tibet. The Fuxing bullet train series have also been operating in all provincial-level regions of the Chinese mainland at speed ranges of 160 km to 350 km per hour according to Xinhua editor Huaxia.

It is the first electrified railway on the plateau region of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region and links regional capital Lhasa with the city of Nyingchi. "There are currently nine stations in the cities of Lhasa, Shannan and Nyingchi that can handle passenger and freight transportation. Compared to roads, the Lhasa-Nyingchi railway reduces the travel time from Lhasa to Nyingchi from 5 hours to approximately 3.5 hours, and cuts the travel time from Shannan to Nyingchi from 6 hours to approximately 2 hours, according to china.org.cn.

Connecting the city of Nyingch at an altitude of 2,994 Meters (9,923 Feet) with the city of Lahasa at an altitude of 3,656 Meters (11,990 Feet), one of the highest cities in the world, posed many construction challenges. The 435 kilometer long single-line electrified railway was built to allow train operations at speeds up to 160 kilometers per hour. According to Xinhua editor Huaxia, "The rail line passes through 47 tunnels and 121 bridges, and crosses the Yarlung Zangbo River 16 times. Tunnels and bridges account for approximately 75 percent of the total length of the railway 90 percent of which is more than 3,000 meters above the sea level which meant challenges for construction workers and provided valuable experience for the construction of railways on plateaus."

Revival of Europe's Night Trains

"Getting on a train in Munich or Berlin in the evening and arriving in Paris or Brussels in the morning after a relaxed journey with our Trans-Europ-Express TEE 2.0 and attractive night train services we will be travelling in ways that are even better for our climate and the environment in Europe in the future" said Andreas Scheuer, Germany's Transport Minister. That pleasant experience once repeated thousands of times every night on European trains had been vanishing. They occured aboard Intercity Overnight Sleeper Trains. Recent changing travel trends suggest a revival. The OBB Austrian Railways NightJet is leading that revival of that European Railroad tradition. For comfort and ecological reasons, many intercity travelers are now increasingly taking the trains instead of flying.

The approximate twenty year ridership decline of the overnight rail intercity service occurred as travellers for busines and pleasure shifted to airlines. That eras low ticket prices and speed of intercity air travel captured the market. Air travel's disadvantages including cramped uncomfortable seating, time spent between the city centers and the airports and time spent meeting security requirements were tolerated The negative environmental impact of air travel was similarly ignored by air travellers.

Factors such as environmental concerns, improvements in secondary rail systems and renewed interest in personal travel comfort allowed High Speed Rail to recaptured market significant share. It simply provided a fast, reliable, frequent, comtable and environmentally Green option. Governments and railroads believed the endangered Night Sleeper Trains services could be revived with new equipment and increasing the number of cities served. Recent ridership statistics although affected by the covid-19 pandemic showed increased public interest in overnight intercity sleeper trains.

OBB, Austria's Railways, created Nightjet in 2016 as the operating successor to night sleeper trains services that had been operated by OBB and Deutsche Bahn. Ridership had been decreasing and the age of the sleeping cars was negatively affecting onboard services. Under the new Nightjet program, ridership in 2017 was 1.4 million passengers and that increased to 1.6 million passengers within a year. Sleeping cars including those from Deutsche Bahn were upgraded and had 160 additional cars in 2020. OBB has ordered 33 new seven-car trainsets from Siemens Mobile to allow for the expansion of new routes.

According to Siemens Mobile, "In August 2018, OBB had signed a framework deal with Siemens Mobility for the supply of 13 seven-car trains for night sleeper operations and eight nine-car trains for operations during the day. Some of the new passenger coaches will be used for Nightjet operations. The upgraded trains will include two seating carriages, two sleeper carriages, and three couchette carriages. Viaggio coaches to be supplied by Siemens offer features such as LED interior lighting and air conditioning. The newly designed coaches will also ensure the supply of fresh air based on the amount of carbon dioxide in the interior air. OBB will operate the new coaches with its existing Siemens-built Taurus locomotives. OBB contracted PriestmanGoode to work on interior designs for its Nightjet and Intercity day train services." The new Nightjet fleet is expected to become operational in 2022.

Deutsche Bahn Orders 320 km/h ICE 4 Train Sets

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