Asia and High Speed Rail

Photos by Matt Furlane

In our modern era of jet travel and automobiles, it is easy to overlook other important modes of transportation and their development in Asia, especially the train. In the 1800s, Englishman Richard Trevithick built the first viable steam locomotive, and the first commercially successful rail line in England soon followed in 1812. Later, train transportation spread to Asian countries such as Japan, China, and India via the British Empire. In the 1830s, the United States established its own rail line on the East Coast, the Baltimore and Ohio line, and later imported some of its steam engines from England. At the behest of Abraham Lincoln, America connected its distant coasts by rail beginning in the 1860s, a construction feat only made possible by the labor of thousands of Chinese immigrants.

By the late 1800s, Japan, China, and Korea all had their own steam train lines imported from western nations. Japan received its first steam locomotive in 1968 from Scottish trader Thomas Blake Glover, and in 1872 Japan’s first line opened between Shidome and Yokohama. China was next, with its first rail line opening in 1876, connecting Woosung and Shanghai. Korea followed in 1899 when American businessmen Henry Collbran and Harry R. Bostwick helped construct a railway connecting Jemulpo to the south of the Han River near Yeongdeungpo. Later railroads established by the French helped to connect present-day South Korea through North Korea to Manchuria and later the Trans-Siberian railway. But with the 20th century advent of diesel electric engines and modern jet travel, steam locomotives saw a period of decline, while faster train technologies from Germany and France pushed railway speeds up to 320 kph (199 mph).

It was Japan, in its run up to the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, that established the now-famous high speed Shinkansen “bullet trains” that still carry millions of passengers each year. With new engineering techniques, Japan went on to surpass all other commercial rail lines and set the stage for commercially viable high speed trains in all of Asia. South Korea followed suit with its own faster train lines in the 1980s, linking Seoul and Busan, but did not have true “high speed” rail systems until 2004. Due to politics and lack of financial support, it was only this year that the southwestern corridor linking Seoul and Gwangju was finally completed. The Honam High Speed Rail, which opened in April 2015, runs at a top speed of 300 kmh (186 mph) and can reach Yongsan station in Seoul in about 90 minutes. It allows residents of Gwangju to reach Incheon Airport entirely by rail if they take Line 1 from Yongsan to Seoul Station and then take the Incheon express rail directly to the airport.

Surprisingly, though, it is no longer Japan leading in all categories of high speed rail systems. After a decade of nonstop development, China is the leader both in terms of total passengers per year (2.3 billion) and total distance (projected to reach 40,000 kilometers this year). For a short period, China was able to claim the fastest Magnetic Levitation (maglev) train in Asia, which runs from Pudong Airport in Shanghai to Line 1 at Longyang station. A joint project with Germany, it was able to reach speeds of 431 kmh (268 mph), though in commercial operation it runs closer to 310 kmh. However, regular high speed trains have proved more economical, and the current Shanghai maglev train is more for tourism than everyday transportation. As of April 2015, a Japanese SCMaglev train attained a speed of 603 kmh (375 mph), hinting that Japan is poised to be the leader in maglev technology for the 21st century. South Korea has a maglev project in development, but its completion date is unknown.

In the future, if the two Koreas are united and other Asian countries complete their train networks, it may be possible to take a high speed sleeper train from Gwangju all the way to Singapore, Moscow, or London. Currently valued for sightseeing, a relaxing boarding process, and spacious seating, “bullet” trains in China, Japan, and Korea will likely continue to be the choice for millions of travelers well into the 21st century.