By IANS,
Beijing : China will continue developing its high speed rail network in the face of rising public demand for travelling efficiency and for future economic development, a railway official said.
“I have confidence in the future of China’s high-speed railway,” Xinhua quoted Huang, a chief researcher with the China Academy of Railway Sciences, as saying.
Huang, a member of China’s top political advisory body, said he favoured the railway ministry’s plan to develop high-speed railway “moderately in advance” to the current market demand and in line with economic development.
“There is a strong demand for bullet trains among China’s local railway bureaus, in hope of carrying more passengers, like authorities with the Shanghai-Nanjing inter-city railway,” he said.
The Chinese government decided to slow the development of high-speed rail and put speed limits on the existing express ways following a fatal high-speed train crash that killed 40 people in east China last July, the People’s Daily reported.
Huang, however, said with technical solutions and disciplined operation, China’s future high-speed commuter railway will be safe with driverless operation under the ATO (Automatic Train Operation) system.
A lot of work has been done by the government to examine and evaluate the safety condition on high-speed railway since the July accident, he added.
Huang revealed that China’s safety regulator and railway authorities will continue a safety overhaul on high-speed rail link, focusing on research, development and installation of signalling equipment, train maintenance, protection against lightning and quake.