Full speed ahead: A high-speed train arriving at the Tegalluar Station in Bandung, Indoneisa, on June 22. In just a few months, South-East Asia’s first ever high-speed rail will start passenger operations between Jakarta and Bandung. — Antara/The Jakarta Post/Asia News Network
Elsewhere, Thailand is continuing with its quest to be better connected with the rest of its neighbours, especially with the aim of making it easier to travel by rail to and from China. On April 21, 2015, a seven-car SCMaglev train hit 603kph less than a week after the same train clocked 590kph, breaking the previous land speed record for rail vehicles of 581kph set by a JR Central MLX01 maglev train in December 2003.
Even countries that are not building HSR want to upgrade their ageing rail networks to something that can compete with the best expressways by building railways that can allow speeds of up to 160kph.
However, those using rail transport grew at a slower rate, from 358 billion pkm to 421 billion pkm , with rail passenger lagging significantly since 2010 came into vogue. With the EU aiming to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030, compared with 1990 levels, and reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050, it is now aggressively trying to shift more passengers from air to rail as it believes this could play a significant role in helping it to reach its climate goals – after all, rail transport has been estimated to be 12 times more energy-efficient than air transport.
With the requisite investments in rail infrastructure on the way, train travel in Europe is undergoing a revival now with the return of overnight sleeper trains and further investments in HSR. China’s HSR network allows speeds of not less than 200kph, all the way up to 350kph, with many trains dedicated only to a passenger service that is not slowed down by the usual mix of cargo trains or slower regional trains. This makes its HSR network serious competition to flying.
Forming the Laotion portion of the Lao-China Railway, the line that officially opened in December 2021 has resulted in an increase in trade not only between Laos and China, but also between other Asean countries and China. Meanwhile, the value of goods imported and exported from and to China through Laos to Thailand rose to US$1.058bil – a 175% increase.