1.
High-speed rail
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High-speed rail is a type of rail transport that operates significantly faster than traditional rail traffic, using an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks. The first such system began operations in Japan in 1964 and was known as the bullet train. High-speed trains normally operate on standard gauge tracks of continuously welded rail on grade-separated right-of-way that incorporates a large turning radius in its design, only in Europe does HSR cross international borders. China has 22,000 kilometres of HSR as of end December 2016, while high-speed rail is most often designed for passenger travel, some high-speed systems also offer freight service. Multiple definitions for high-speed rail are in use worldwide, the European Union Directive 96/48/EC, Annex 1 defines high-speed rail in terms of, Infrastructure, track built specially for high-speed travel or specially upgraded for high-speed travel. Minimum Speed Limit, Minimum speed of 250 km/h on lines built for high speed. This must apply to at least one section of the line, Rolling stock must be able to reach a speed of at least 200 km/h to be considered high speed. Operating conditions, Rolling stock must be designed alongside its infrastructure for complete compatibility, safety and quality of service, category II – Existing tracks specially upgraded for high speeds, allowing a maximum running speed of at least 200 km/h. Category III – Existing tracks specially upgraded for high speeds, allowing a maximum running speed of at least 200 km/h, the UIC prefers to use definitions because they consider that there is no single standard definition of high-speed rail, nor even standard usage of the terms. They make use of the European EC Directive 96/48, stating that high speed is a combination of all the elements which constitute the system, infrastructure, rolling stock and operating conditions. The International Union of Railways states that high-speed rail is a set of unique features, many conventionally hauled trains are able to reach 200 km/h in commercial service but are not considered to be high-speed trains. These include the French SNCF Intercités and German DB IC, National domestic standards may vary from the international ones. Railways were the first form of land transportation and had an effective monopoly on passenger traffic until the development of the motor car. Speed had always been an important factor for railroads and they tried to achieve higher speeds. The line used three-phase current at 10 kilovolts and 45 Hz, on 23 October 1903, the S&H-equipped railcar achieved a speed of 206.7 km/h and on 27 October the AEG-equipped railcar achieved 210.2 km/h. These trains demonstrated the feasibility of electric high-speed rail, however, after the breakthrough of electric railroads, it was clearly the infrastructure – especially the cost of it – which hampered the introduction of high-speed rail. Several disasters happened – derailments, head-on collisions on single-track lines, collisions with traffic at grade crossings. The physical laws were well-known, i. e. if the speed was doubled, the radius should be quadrupled
2.
Hubei
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Hubei is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located in the Central China region. The name of the province north of the lake, referring to its position north of Dongting Lake. The provincial capital is Wuhan, a major thoroughfare and the political, cultural. It borders Henan to the north, Anhui to the east, Jiangxi to the southeast, Hunan to the south, Chongqing to the west, the high-profile Three Gorges Dam is located at Yichang, in the west of the province. The Hubei region was home to sophisticated Neolithic cultures, by the Spring and Autumn period, the territory of todays Hubei was part of the powerful State of Chu. During the Warring States period Chu became the major adversary of the upstart State of Qin to the northwest, which began to assert itself by outward expansionism. As wars between Qin and Chu ensued, Chu lost more and more land, first its dominance over the Sichuan Basin, then its heartland, which correspond to modern Hubei. In 223 BC Qin chased down the remnants of the Chu regime, Qin founded the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, the first unified state in the region. Qin was succeeded by the Han dynasty in 206 BC, which established the province of Jingzhou in what is now Hubei, the Qin and Han played an active role in the agricultural colonization of Hubei, maintaining a system of river dikes to protect farmland from summer floods. Towards the end of the Han Dynasty in the beginning of the 3rd century, the incursion of northern nomadic peoples into the region at the beginning of the 4th century began nearly three centuries of division into a nomad-ruled north and a Han Chinese-ruled south. Hubei, to the South, remained under southern rule for this entire period, until the unification of China by the Sui dynasty in 589. After the Tang dynasty disintegrated in the 10th century, Hubei came under the control of several regional regimes, Jingnan in the center, Wu to the east, and the Five Dynasties to the north. The Song dynasty reunified the region in 982 and placed most of Hubei into Jinghubei Circuit, Mongols conquered the region in 1279, and under their rule the province of Huguang was established, covering Hubei, Hunan, and parts of Guangdong and Guangxi. The Ming dynasty drove out the Mongols in 1368 and their version of Huguang province was smaller, and corresponded almost entirely to the modern provinces of Hubei and Hunan combined. While Hubei was geographically removed from the centers of the Ming power, during the last years of the Ming, todays Hubei was ravaged several times by the rebel armies of Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng. The Manchu Qing dynasty which had much of the region in 1644, soon split Huguang into the provinces of Hubei. The Huangshi/Daye area, south-east of Wuhan, became an important center of mining, in 1911 the Wuchang Uprising took place in modern-day Wuhan, overthrowing the Qing dynasty and establishing the Republic of China. In 1927 Wuhan became the seat of a government established by left-wing elements of the Kuomintang, led by Wang Jingwei, during World War II the eastern parts of Hubei were conquered and occupied by Japan while the western parts remained under Chinese control
3.
Hunan
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Hunan Province is the 7th most populous Province of China and the 10th most extensive by area. The name Hunan means south of Lake Dongting, a lake in the northeast of the province, vehicle license plates from Hunan are marked Xiang, after the Xiang River, which runs from south to north through Hunan and forms part of the largest drainage system for the province. Hunans primeval forests were first occupied by the ancestors of the modern Miao, Tujia, Dong and it entered the written history of China around 350 BC, when under the kings of the Zhou Dynasty, it became part of the State of Chu. After Qin conquered the Chu heartland in 278 BC, the region came under the control of Qin, the agricultural colonization of the lowlands was carried out in part by the Han state, which managed river dikes to protect farmland from floods. To this day many of the villages in Hunan are named after the Han families who settled there. Migration from the north was especially prevalent during the Eastern Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties Periods, during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms Period, Hunan was home to its own independent regime, Ma Chu. Hunan and Hubei became a part of the province of Huguang until the Qing dynasty, Hunan province was created in 1664 from Huguang, renamed to its current name in 1723. Hunan became an important communications center due to its position on the Yangzi River and it was an important centre of scholarly activity and Confucian thought, particularly in the Yuelu Academy in Changsha. It was also on the Imperial Highway constructed between northern and southern China, the land produced grain so abundantly that it fed many parts of China with its surpluses. The population continued to climb until, by the century, Hunan became overcrowded. Some of the uprisings, such as the ten-year Miao Rebellion of 1795–1806, were caused by ethnic tensions, the Taiping Rebellion began in the south in Guangxi Province in 1850. The rebellion spread into Hunan and then further eastward along the Yangzi River valley, ultimately, it was a Hunanese army under Zeng Guofan who marched into Nanjing to put down the uprising in 1864. Hunan was relatively quiet until 1910 when there were uprisings against the crumbling Qing dynasty and it was led by Hunanese native Mao Zedong, and established a short-lived Hunan Soviet in 1927. The Communists maintained an army in the mountains along the Hunan-Jiangxi border until 1934. Under pressure from the Nationalist Kuomintang forces, they began the Long March to bases in Shaanxi Province, after the departure of the Communists, the KMT army fought against the Japanese in the second Sino-Japanese war. They defended the Changsha until it fell in 1944, japan launched Operation Ichigo, a plan to control the railroad from Wuchang to Guangzhou. Hunan was relatively unscathed by the war that followed the defeat of the Japanese in 1945. In 1949, the Communists returned once more as the Nationalists retreated southward, as Mao Zedongs home province, Hunan supported the Cultural Revolution of 1966–1976
4.
Guangdong
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Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the Peoples Republic of China. The provincial capital Guangzhou and economic hub Shenzhen are among the most populous, the population increase since the census has been modest, the province at 2014 end had 107,240,000 people. Since 1989, Guangdong has topped the total GDP rankings among all divisions, with Jiangsu and Shandong second. According to state statistics, Guangdongs GDP in 2014 reached RMB6,779 billion, or US$1.104 trillion, since 2011, Guangdong has the highest GDP among all provinces of Mainland China. The province contributes approximately 12% of the PRCs national economic output, Guangdong also hosts the largest import and export fair in China called the Canton Fair in Guangdongs capital city Guangzhou. Guǎng means expanse or vast, and has associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD226. Guangdong and neighbouring Guangxi literally mean expanse east and expanse west, together, Guangdong and Guangxi are called Loeng gwong. During the Song dynasty, the Two Guangs were formally separated as Guǎngnán Dōnglù and Guǎngnán Xīlù, one should note that Canton, though etymologically derived from Cantão, refers only to the provincial capital instead of the whole province, as documented by authoritative English dictionaries. The local people of the city of Guangzhou and their language are commonly referred to as Cantonese in English. Because of the prestige of Canton and its accent, Cantonese sensu lato can also be used for the phylogenetically related residents, Chinese administration and reliable historical records in the region began with the Qin dynasty. After establishing the first unified Chinese empire, the Qin expanded southwards and set up Nanhai Commandery at Panyu, the region was independent as Nanyue between the fall of Qin and the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. Under the Wu Kingdom of the Three Kingdoms period, Guangdong was made its own province, for example, internal strife in northern China following the rebellion of An Lushan resulted in a 75% increase in the population of Guangzhou prefecture between 740s–750s and 800s–810s. As more migrants arrived, the population was gradually assimilated to Han Chinese culture or displaced. Multiple women originating from the Persian Gulf lived in Guangzhous foreign quarter, together with Guangxi, Guangdong was made part of Lingnan Circuit, or Mountain-South Circuit, in 627 during the Tang dynasty. The Guangdong part of Lingnan Circuit was renamed Guangnan East Circuit guǎng nán dōng lù in 971 during the Song dynasty, Guangnan East is the source of Guangdong. As Mongols from the north engaged in their conquest of China in the 13th century, the Battle of Yamen 1279 in Guangdong marked the end of the Southern Song Dynasty. During the Mongol Yuan dynasty, large parts of current Guangdong belonged to Jiangxi and its present name, Guangdong Province was given in early Ming dynasty. Since the 16th century, Guangdong has had extensive links with the rest of the world
5.
Wuhan railway station
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Wuhan Railway Station is one of the three main passenger railway stations of Wuhan, the capital of Chinas Hubei Province. It is located northeast of Wuhans East Lake, near a lake called Yangchunhu. Administratively, the site is within the Wuhans Hongshan District, completed in December 2009, the station has 11 platforms and 20 tracks. It serves the Beijing–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway, the Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu High-Speed Railway, the station was designed by Amenagement, Recherche, Pole dEchanges, the Fourth Survey and Design Institute of China, MaP3, and SNCF-IGOA, after winning a two-phase competition in 2005. The design was inspired by the crane, the symbol of Wuhan City. The distinctive roof is intended to resemble the wings, and is based on a sine curve. The building consists of nine separated parts, symbolizing Chinas nine provinces, Construction of the station began in September 2006, and was completed in December 2009. It was built by China State Construction Engineering Corporation, which built the Wuhan Airport. Construction cost exceeded 14 billion Yuan, including upgrades to surrounding infrastructure, the main arch spans 116 metres and the highest point is 58 metres above the ground. Located on the line of the Beijing–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway, Wuhan Railway Station is served by almost all trains traveling on this railway to or through Wuhan. Some of the trains running via Wuhan on the Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu High-Speed Railway use Wuhan Station as well. The Wuhan station is served by many of the high-speed trains to. The number of trains using Wuhan Station is comparatively small. Wuhan Station is adjacent to a station of the name on Line 4 of the Wuhan Metro. ASCE review - December 2006 MaP3 - Photos and details
6.
Guangzhou South Railway Station
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Guangzhou South Railway Station, also known as New Guangzhou Station or Shibi Station, is located in Shibi, Panyu, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is a modern rail terminal 17 kilometres south of central Guangzhou. For a brief time it was Asias largest railway station when it officially opened operations in early 2010, the station, designed by TFP Farrells, remains the largest in Guangzhou. It is one of the four largest railway passenger transportation hubs in China and this station is intended to replace the existing Guangzhou Railway Station in being the dominant station in Guangzhou. Expected 2020 passenger delivery volume will be 80.14 million passengers, Guangzhou South Railway Station is also a comprehensive transportation hub, passengers can interchange between high-speed long distance trains, Metro, long distance and local buses, taxi, etc. Guangzhou Metro Line 2 and Line 7 subway lines are located at or near the bottom of station complex Metro station, the formation of a centralized transfer center will see connections with the future Guangzhou Metro Lines 18 &20, as well as the FMetro Line 2. December 30,2004 - Construction commenced, the whole building including the main station house is under a single canopy with no pillar support. It was built with an investment of 13 billion yuan. 28 tracks serve 15 platforms, including 13 island platforms and two side platform, Station building area is of approximately 168,000 square meters. Station waiting room using online elevated structures, including two house and stuff Elevated house, and set before overhead and drop-off station platforms. The total height of the whole building stations rises to more than 50 meters, in addition, the station roof has an installed area of about 2,000 square metres of solar panels, directing power to the station. The main structure consists of 4 layers, including three above ground and a basement level, the underground basement level contains the Guangzhou Metro and future Foshan Metro station hall, as well as to provide 1,808 parking spaces. The ground floor is mostly the arrivals hall and also the Hong Kong cross border port of entry, level three features an elevated passenger waiting room, of 71,722 square meters, plus an area 14,694 square meters of commercial space. The station also has space reserved for high speed and local rail developments. F Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link
7.
Ministry of Railways (China)
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The Ministry of Railways is a defunct ministry under the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China. The last minister was Sheng Guangzu, the ministry was also in charge of the operations of China Railways which manages the railway bureaux and companies in mainland China. On 10 March 2013, it was announced that the Ministry would be dissolved and its duties taken up by the Ministry of Transport, State Railways Administration, the Ministry of Railways predecessor was the Qing and the Republican Ministry of Posts and Communications. MOR, which acts as a corporation in the debt market, for the year 2009, MOR plans to sell at least 100 billion yuan worth of construction bonds to finance a large expansion of the countrys rail network. There are 16 railway bureaux and 2 railway group companies under the Ministry of Railways, as of 2008, approximately 2 million people work in the Ministry of Railways
8.
Wuhan Railway Bureau
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Wuhan Railway Bureau is a regional bureau affiliated to the China Railway Corporation. As of 2007, the bureau is in charge of a length of 6390.7 kilometers. It oversees 265 stations and manages the railways in Hubei and southern Henan Provinces and it also manages the Wuhan Railway Hub, one of the eight biggest railway hubs, and one of the six biggest passenger hubs in China
9.
China Railways CRH2
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The CRH2 is one of the high-speed train models in China. In 2004, the Ministry of Railway in China purchased an initial 60 sets of the train from Kawasaki Heavy Industries with a speed of 250 km/h. However, the versions of the CRH2 are not related to the E2-1000 Series despite having the same exterior shell. On October 20,2004, the Ministry of Railway in China ordered 60 sets of CRH2A trains from Kawasaki Heavy Industries in Japan. Along with 60 sets of Bombardiers Regina-based CRH1A, and 40 sets of Alstoms Pendolino-based CRH5A, each of the CRH2A set consists of 8 cars. The first 3 sets were built in Japan, the next 6 sets were delivered in complete knock down form and assembled by CSR Sifang Locomotive, the remaining 51 sets were built by Sifang through technology transfer from Japan. The first train arrived at Qingdao port on March 8,2006 with little fanfare and these trains have a maximum operation speed of 250 km/h and started providing high-speed train service from April 18,2007, the date of the sixth national railway speed-up. According to Chinese and Japanese media, CRH2A trains started test trials ahead of commercial operation on the Shanghai-Hangzhou, on September 14,2010, the Chinese MOR ordered additional 40 sets of CRH2A trains from CSR Sifang. In November 2007, the Ministry of Railway in China ordered 10 CRH2 sets with 16 cars per set and these trains have been given designations CRH2B. Each CRH2B has three 1st seating cars, twelve 2nd seating cars, and one dining car, designed maximum operation speed is 250 km/h with a power of 9,600 kW. The first units were delivered on June 29,2008, after the introduction of the modified E2-1000 Series, Sifang built its own CRH2 with a maximum safe operating speed of 350 km/h. The original train sets imported from Kawasaki had a safe operating speed of 250 km/h. During June 2005 and September 2005, The Chinese Ministry of Railways launched bidding for High speed trains with a top speed over 300 km/h. Along with Siemenss Velaro-based CRH3C, CSR Sifang bid 60 sets of CRH2C, includes 30 sets of CRH2C stage one with a top speed of 300 km/h, in development and research of the 350 km/h high speed train, The CRH2-300 project was launched by Chinese MOR and CSR. In 2006 the China Development Bank provided CNY15 billion developmental financial loans to CSR Group for the projects of 200–300 km/h high speed trains, over 50 academics,150,000 technicians,600 contractors were involved in the project. This trains livery is not like the CRH2A and its blue stripe does not end at the fronts of trainsets. CRH2C Stage one is a version of CRH2A. It has a operating speed up to 300 km/h by replacing two intermediate trailer cars with motorized cars
10.
China Railways CRH3
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In November 2005 the Ministry of Railways ordered 60 Velaro trains for use on the Beijing-Tianjin high-speed rail line. On 27 July 2006, the joint project office was opened at Tangshan, the first three trains were built in Germany by Siemens, and these imported trains were labelled CRH3A. These trains are based on the German Deutsche Bahns ICE3 high-speed trains and were given designations of CRH3A. Of these German trains, the first one was shipped from Bremerhaven on 19 December 2007, on 30 November 2012, the CNR announced new design of CRH3A, with three styles that can operate at top speed of 160 km/h,200 km/h and 250 km/h. The first train was rolled out on June 3,2013, after December 2008, the three imported CRH3A were repainted and renamed to CRH3C. The rest of the trains are now being built by Tangshan Railway Vehicle with some components from Germany, the first Chinese-built CRH3 was unveiled on 11 April 2008. Each train sets consists of four cars and four trailer cars. The bogies are improved versions of the SF500 bogie, innovations include the body bolster, vibration damper, spring parameters, transmission ratio, widening the carbody and increasing the speed of the trainsets. The trains are designed for running at 350 km/h, on 24 June 2008, CRH3-001C reached a top speed of 394.3 km/h during a test on the Beijing to Tianjin high speed line. On 9 December 2009, a pair of CRH3 EMUs reached a top speed of 394.2 km/h during a test on the Zhengzhou to Xian high speed line, on 28 September 2009, an additional 20 CRH3C sets was ordered by the Chinese MOR. In March 2009, a new contract was signed with China Northern Railways to supply 100 16-car trainsets for 39. 2B RMB with delivery from October 2010 onwards. This order for a total of 1600 railway cars is greater than the production of all Velaro. It is planned that the trains will be produced by CNR subsidiaries, Tangshan Railway Vehicles and Changchun Railway Vehicles, in this contract, Siemens acts as a component supplier, with 85% of the content actually made by the company. An additional order for 40 16-car sets and 40 8-car sets was made on 28 September 2009 for 25. 32B RMB, top travel speed for this variant is 380 km/h, though it is capable of attaining even higher speeds. These trains have been designated as CRH380B and CRH380BL in September 2010, the first CRH380BL set with series number CRH380B-6401L rolled off the production line and was unveiled to the public in September 2010. It was manufactured by Tangshan Railway Vehicle, on October 2010, the 16-car train was sent to Beijing loop line for test. On November 2010, the train was sent to Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway for trial run, the trainset reached the maximum speed of 457 km/h on 5 December 2010. More recently, during a subsequent test on 10 January 2011, since 13 January 2011, the CRH380BL enter regular service at the Shanghai–Hangzhou High-Speed Railway and Shanghai–Nanjing High-Speed Railway
11.
China Railways CRH380A
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The CRH380A is a Chinese electric high-speed train that was developed by CSR Corporation Limited and is currently manufactured by CSR Qingdao Sifang Locomotive & Rolling Stock Co. Ltd. As a continuation of the CRH2-350 program it both replaces foreign technology in the CRH2 with Chinese developments and increases the top speed, the CRH380A is designed to operate at a cruise speed of 350 km/h and a maximum of 380 km/h in commercial service. The trains have had their operating speed reduced to 300 km/h after the Wenzhou train collision, CSR discovered the technology to increase the maximum speed. These research findings were fed into the design for the new-generation high-speed train, the original project was named CRH2-350. The new generations of rolling stock are expected to be used on the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, the project officially launched in 2009, and was included in the Eleventh Five-Year Plans National technology support program for key technology and equipment development of China s high speed train. The design work includes four categories, schematic, technical, construction, based on the analysis of large amounts of data and experience from the operation of the Beijing-Tianjin high-speed rail. The MOR completed a series of system and optimized subsystem design, then provided CSR sifang with primary data. CSR presented more than 20 types of designs, after further comparison, calculation, optimization, simulation and testwork, on April 12,2010, the final design was published on the Official conference held by Sifang. The train model was exhibited in May at the China Railway Pavilion in the Shanghai World Expo Park, on September 2009, the Ministry of Railway had ordered 100 16-car and 40 eight-car new-generation high-speed trains from CSR Sifang Locomotive & Rolling Stock, the contract worth ¥45 billion. On April 18,2012, the MTR ordered 9 CRH380A train sets for Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link, according to CSR, the overall design of CRH380A reflects ten major goals. It also designed the bogie to match the performance of the body and optimized the train bodys natural frequencies, which helps reduce structural vibrations at high speeds and improves ride comfort. The pressure change rate inside the train is less than 200 Pa /s and this ensures good ride quality at high speed. The train is equipped with SWMB-400/SWTB-400 bolster-less bogies and these are a redesign of the SWMB-350/SWTB-350 bogies used by CRH2C, their critical instability speed is 550 km/h. The new trains derail coefficient is 0.34 at a speed of 386 km/h while the maximum coefficient of the CRH2A is 0.73. By reducing sources of noise and adopting new sound absorbing and insulating materials, the noise level is at 67 dB -69 dB when running at 350 km/h, which is similar to the CRH2A running at 250 km/h. High-performance traction system, with YQ-365 motors manufactured by CSR Zhuzhou Electric Co, Ltd and CI11 Traction converters by Zhuzhou CSR Times Electric. The CRH380A has a new power unit configuration to maximize traction power and this allows the train to accelerate to 380 km/h in 7 minutes. Regenerative braking with a maximum energy feedback rate of 95%, with each stop nearly 800 kWh of electric power can be fed back to the electric grid
12.
Track gauge
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In rail transport, track gauge is the spacing of the rails on a railway track and is measured between the inner faces of the load-bearing rails. All vehicles on a network must have running gear that is compatible with the track gauge, as the dominant parameter determining interoperability, it is still frequently used as a descriptor of a route or network. There is a distinction between the gauge and actual gauge at some locality, due to divergence of track components from the nominal. Railway engineers use a device, like a caliper, to measure the actual gauge, the nominal track gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the rails. In current practice, it is specified at a distance below the rail head as the inner faces of the rail head are not necessarily vertical. In some cases in the earliest days of railways, the company saw itself as an infrastructure provider only. Colloquially the wagons might be referred to as four-foot gauge wagons, say and this nominal value does not equate to the flange spacing, as some freedom is allowed for. An infrastructure manager might specify new or replacement track components at a variation from the nominal gauge for pragmatic reasons. Track is defined in old Imperial units or in universally accepted metric units or SI units, Imperial units were established in United Kingdom by The Weights and Measures Act of 1824. In addition, there are constraints, such as the load-carrying capacity of axles. Narrow gauge railways usually cost less to build because they are lighter in construction, using smaller cars and locomotives, as well as smaller bridges, smaller tunnels. Narrow gauge is often used in mountainous terrain, where the savings in civil engineering work can be substantial. Broader gauge railways are generally expensive to build and require wider curves. There is no single perfect gauge, because different environments and economic considerations come into play, a narrow gauge is superior if ones main considerations are economy and tight curvature. For direct, unimpeded routes with high traffic, a broad gauge may be preferable, the Standard, Russian, and 46 gauges are designed to strike a reasonable balance between these factors. In addition to the general trade-off, another important factor is standardization, once a standard has been chosen, and equipment, infrastructure, and training calibrated to that standard, conversion becomes difficult and expensive. This also makes it easier to adopt an existing standard than to invent a new one and this is true of many technologies, including railroad gauges. The reduced cost, greater efficiency, and greater economic opportunity offered by the use of a common standard explains why a number of gauges predominate worldwide
13.
Minimum railway curve radius
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The minimum railway curve radius is the shortest allowable design radius for railway tracks under a particular set of conditions. It has an important bearing on costs and operating costs and, in combination with superelevation in the case of train tracks. Minimum radius of curve is one parameter in the design of vehicles as well as trams. Monorails and guideways are also subject to minimum radii, the first proper railway was the Liverpool and Manchester Railway which opened in 1830. Like the trams that had preceded it over a hundred years, among other reasons for the gentle curves were the lack of strength of the track, which might have overturned if the curves were too sharp causing derailments. There was no signalling at this time, so drivers had to be able to see ahead to avoid collisions with previous trains, the gentler the curves, the longer the visibility. The earliest rails were made in lengths of wrought iron. Minimum curve radii for railroads are governed by the speed operated, for handling of long freight trains, a minimum 717-foot radius is preferred. The sharpest curves tend to be on the narrowest of narrow gauge railways, as the need for more powerful locomotives grew, the need for more driving wheels on a longer, fixed wheelbase grew too. But long wheel bases are unfriendly to sharp curves, various types of articulated locomotives were devised to avoid having to operate multiple locomotives with multiple crews. More recent diesel and electric locomotives do not have a wheelbase problem and this is particularly true of the European buffer and chain couplers, where the buffers extend the profile of the railcar body. For a line with maximum speed 60 km/h, buffer-and-chain couplings reduce the radius to around 200 m. A long heavy freight train, especially those with wagons of mixed loading, may struggle on sharp curves, common solutions include, marshalling light and empty wagons at rear of train intermediate locomotives, including remotely controlled ones. Easing curves reduced speeds reduced cant, at the expense of fast passenger trains, equalizing wagon loading better driver training driving controls that display drawgear forces. And c2013 Electronically Controlled Pneumatic brakes, a similar problem occurs with harsh changes in gradients. To counter this, a cant is used, ideally the train should be tilted such that resultant force acts straight down through the bottom of the train, so the wheels, track, train and passengers feel little or no sideways force. Some trains are capable of tilting to enhance this effect for passenger comfort, because freight and passenger trains tend to move at different speeds and weigh dramatically different, a cant cannot be ideal for both types of rail traffic. The relationship between speed and tilt can be calculated mathematically, the values used when building high-speed railways vary, and depend on desired wear and safety levels
14.
Grade (slope)
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The grade of a physical feature, landform or constructed line refers to the tangent of the angle of that surface to the horizontal. It is a case of the slope, where zero indicates horizontality. A larger number indicates higher or steeper degree of tilt, often slope is calculated as a ratio of rise to run, or as a fraction in which run is the horizontal distance and rise is the vertical distance. The grades or slopes of existing physical features such as canyons and hillsides, stream and river banks, grades are typically specified for new linear constructions. The grade may refer to the slope or the perpendicular cross slope. There are several ways to express slope, as an angle of inclination to the horizontal, as a percentage, the formula for which is 100 rise run which could also be expressed as the tangent of the angle of inclination times 100. In the U. S. this percentage grade is the most commonly used unit for communicating slopes in transportation, surveying, construction, and civil engineering. As a per mille figure, the formula for which is 1000 rise run which could also be expressed as the tangent of the angle of inclination times 1000 and this is commonly used in Europe to denote the incline of a railway. As a ratio of one part rise to so many parts run, for example, a slope that has a rise of 5 feet for every 100 feet of run would have a slope ratio of 1 in 20. This is generally the method used to describe railway grades in Australia, any of these may be used. Grade is usually expressed as a percentage, but this is converted to the angle α from horizontal or the other expressions. Slope may still be expressed when the run is not known. This is not the way to specify slope, it follows the sine function rather than the tangent function. But in practice the way to calculate slope is to measure the distance along the slope and the vertical rise. When the angle of inclination is small, using the slope length rather than the horizontal displacement makes only an insignificant difference, Railway gradients are usually expressed in terms of the rise in relation to the distance along the track as a practical measure. In cases where the difference between sin and tan is significant, the tangent is used. In any case, the identity holds for all inclinations up to 90 degrees, tan α = sin α1 − sin 2 α In Europe. Grades are related using the equations with symbols from the figure at top
15.
Xianning North railway station
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The Xianning North Railway Station is a railway station on the Wuhan–Guangzhou High-Speed Railway, serving the city of Xianning in the Hubei Province, China. The station is located on the edge of Xiannings urban core. The station on the original Beijing–Guangzhou Railway is known as simply Xianning Railway Station and it is located about 2 km from Xianning North. The name Xianning North Railway Station was also used in design documents for the station of the Wuchang–Xianning Intercity Railway. By the time of thats system opening that became known as Xianning East Railway Station
16.
Changsha South Railway Station
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Changsha South Railway Station is a railway station of Wuguang Passenger Railway and Hukun Passenger Railway. The station is located in Yuhua District, Changsha, Hunan and it is a hub and the connecting point of Beijing–Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong High-Speed Railway, Shanghai–Kunming High-Speed Railway and the proposed Xiamen-Changsha-Chongqing High-Speed Railway. The station, located in Lituo Street, Yuhua District, was opened Dec 26,2009, the designer of the station building is from the 3rd department of Central South Architectural Design Institute, INC. The roof features the waves and ripples of water and it has a total construction area of 273,000 square meters and the depot area is 137,000 square meters. The station opened on December 26,2009, when the station was first open, the surrounded area—which is away from Changshas city center—was mostly industrial. Since then, however, high-rise residential and office development has taken place around the station, the passenger volume has also increased greatly. Metro Line 2 connects Changsha South Railway Station with the city, Changsha South Railway Station is the second station from the east. All other stops are in the west and the terminal is Wangchengpo to which the ride takes about 40 minutes. There are lots of buses departing from Changsha South Railway Station, No.16,124,135,159,160,348,503, check the timetables and routes at the bus terminal. The distance to city center is approximately 10 kilometers and the standards are as following. The Maglev line is 18.5 km long and trains run at a speed of 120kph to finish the journey in just over 10 minutes, Changsha Railway Station Changsha Metro Changsha Metro Group website
17.
Simplified Chinese characters
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Simplified Chinese characters are standardized Chinese characters prescribed in the Table of General Standard Chinese Characters for use in mainland China. Along with traditional Chinese characters, it is one of the two character sets of the contemporary Chinese written language. The government of the Peoples Republic of China in mainland China has promoted them for use in printing since the 1950s and 1960s in an attempt to increase literacy and they are officially used in the Peoples Republic of China and Singapore. Traditional Chinese characters are used in Hong Kong, Macau. Overseas Chinese communities generally tend to use traditional characters, Simplified Chinese characters may be referred to by their official name above or colloquially. Strictly, the latter refers to simplifications of character structure or body, character forms that have existed for thousands of years alongside regular, Simplified character forms were created by decreasing the number of strokes and simplifying the forms of a sizable proportion of traditional Chinese characters. Some simplifications were based on popular cursive forms embodying graphic or phonetic simplifications of the traditional forms, some characters were simplified by applying regular rules, for example, by replacing all occurrences of a certain component with a simplified version of the component. Variant characters with the pronunciation and identical meaning were reduced to a single standardized character. Finally, many characters were left untouched by simplification, and are identical between the traditional and simplified Chinese orthographies. Some simplified characters are very dissimilar to and unpredictably different from traditional characters and this often leads opponents not well-versed in the method of simplification to conclude that the overall process of character simplification is also arbitrary. In reality, the methods and rules of simplification are few, on the other hand, proponents of simplification often flaunt a few choice simplified characters as ingenious inventions, when in fact these have existed for hundreds of years as ancient variants. However, the Chinese government never officially dropped its goal of further simplification in the future, in August 2009, the PRC began collecting public comments for a modified list of simplified characters. The new Table of General Standard Chinese Characters consisting of 8,105 characters was promulgated by the State Council of the Peoples Republic of China on June 5,2013, cursive written text almost always includes character simplification. Simplified forms used in print have always existed, they date back to as early as the Qin dynasty, One of the earliest proponents of character simplification was Lubi Kui, who proposed in 1909 that simplified characters should be used in education. In the years following the May Fourth Movement in 1919, many anti-imperialist Chinese intellectuals sought ways to modernise China, Traditional culture and values such as Confucianism were challenged. Soon, people in the Movement started to cite the traditional Chinese writing system as an obstacle in modernising China and it was suggested that the Chinese writing system should be either simplified or completely abolished. Fu Sinian, a leader of the May Fourth Movement, called Chinese characters the writing of ox-demons, lu Xun, a renowned Chinese author in the 20th century, stated that, If Chinese characters are not destroyed, then China will die. Recent commentators have claimed that Chinese characters were blamed for the problems in China during that time
18.
Traditional Chinese characters
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Traditional Chinese characters are Chinese characters in any character set that does not contain newly created characters or character substitutions performed after 1946. They are most commonly the characters in the character sets of Taiwan, of Hong Kong. Currently, a number of overseas Chinese online newspapers allow users to switch between both sets. In contrast, simplified Chinese characters are used in mainland China, Singapore, the debate on traditional and simplified Chinese characters has been a long-running issue among Chinese communities. Although simplified characters are taught and endorsed by the government of Mainland China, Traditional characters are used informally in regions in China primarily in handwriting and also used for inscriptions and religious text. They are often retained in logos or graphics to evoke yesteryear, nonetheless, the vast majority of media and communications in China is dominated by simplified characters. Taiwan has never adopted Simplified Chinese characters since it is ruled by the Republic of China, the use of simplified characters in official documents is even prohibited by the government in Taiwan. Simplified characters are not well understood in general, although some stroke simplifications that have incorporated into Simplified Chinese are in common use in handwriting. For example, while the name of Taiwan is written as 臺灣, similarly, in Hong Kong and Macau, Traditional Chinese has been the legal written form since colonial times. In recent years, because of the influx of mainland Chinese tourists, today, even government websites use simplified Chinese, as they answer to the Beijing government. This has led to concerns by residents to protect their local heritage. In Southeast Asia, the Chinese Filipino community continues to be one of the most conservative regarding simplification, while major public universities are teaching simplified characters, many well-established Chinese schools still use traditional characters. Publications like the Chinese Commercial News, World News, and United Daily News still use traditional characters, on the other hand, the Philippine Chinese Daily uses simplified. Aside from local newspapers, magazines from Hong Kong, such as the Yazhou Zhoukan, are found in some bookstores. In case of film or television subtitles on DVD, the Chinese dub that is used in Philippines is the same as the one used in Taiwan and this is because the DVDs belongs to DVD Region Code 3. Hence, most of the subtitles are in Traditional Characters, overseas Chinese in the United States have long used traditional characters. A major influx of Chinese immigrants to the United States occurred during the half of the 19th century. Therefore, the majority of Chinese language signage in the United States, including street signs, Traditional Chinese characters are called several different names within the Chinese-speaking world
19.
Standard Chinese
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Its pronunciation is based on the Beijing dialect, its vocabulary on the Mandarin dialects, and its grammar is based on written vernacular Chinese. Like other varieties of Chinese, Standard Chinese is a language with topic-prominent organization. It has more initial consonants but fewer vowels, final consonants, Standard Chinese is an analytic language, though with many compound words. There exist two standardised forms of the language, namely Putonghua in Mainland China and Guoyu in Taiwan, aside from a number of differences in pronunciation and vocabulary, Putonghua is written using simplified Chinese characters, while Guoyu is written using traditional Chinese characters. There are many characters that are identical between the two systems, in English, the governments of China and Hong Kong use Putonghua, Putonghua Chinese, Mandarin Chinese, and Mandarin, while those of Taiwan, Singapore, and Malaysia, use Mandarin. The name Putonghua also has a long, albeit unofficial, history and it was used as early as 1906 in writings by Zhu Wenxiong to differentiate a modern, standard Chinese from classical Chinese and other varieties of Chinese. For some linguists of the early 20th century, the Putonghua, or common tongue/speech, was different from the Guoyu. The former was a prestige variety, while the latter was the legal standard. Based on common understandings of the time, the two were, in fact, different, Guoyu was understood as formal vernacular Chinese, which is close to classical Chinese. By contrast, Putonghua was called the speech of the modern man. The use of the term Putonghua by left-leaning intellectuals such as Qu Qiubai, prior to this, the government used both terms interchangeably. In Taiwan, Guoyu continues to be the term for Standard Chinese. The term Putonghua, on the contrary, implies nothing more than the notion of a lingua franca, Huayu, or language of the Chinese nation, originally simply meant Chinese language, and was used in overseas communities to contrast Chinese with foreign languages. Over time, the desire to standardise the variety of Chinese spoken in these communities led to the adoption of the name Huayu to refer to Mandarin and it also incorporates the notion that Mandarin is usually not the national or common language of the areas in which overseas Chinese live. The term Mandarin is a translation of Guānhuà, which referred to the lingua franca of the late Chinese empire, in English, Mandarin may refer to the standard language, the dialect group as a whole, or to historic forms such as the late Imperial lingua franca. The name Modern Standard Mandarin is sometimes used by linguists who wish to distinguish the current state of the language from other northern. Chinese has long had considerable variation, hence prestige dialects have always existed. Confucius, for example, used yǎyán rather than colloquial regional dialects, rime books, which were written since the Northern and Southern dynasties, may also have reflected one or more systems of standard pronunciation during those times
20.
Pinyin
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Pinyin, or Hànyǔ Pīnyīn, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese in mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, and Taiwan. It is often used to teach Standard Chinese, which is written using Chinese characters. The system includes four diacritics denoting tones, Pinyin without tone marks is used to spell Chinese names and words in languages written with the Latin alphabet, and also in certain computer input methods to enter Chinese characters. The pinyin system was developed in the 1950s by many linguists, including Zhou Youguang and it was published by the Chinese government in 1958 and revised several times. The International Organization for Standardization adopted pinyin as a standard in 1982. The system was adopted as the standard in Taiwan in 2009. The word Hànyǔ means the language of the Han people. In 1605, the Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci published Xizi Qiji in Beijing and this was the first book to use the Roman alphabet to write the Chinese language. Twenty years later, another Jesuit in China, Nicolas Trigault, neither book had much immediate impact on the way in which Chinese thought about their writing system, and the romanizations they described were intended more for Westerners than for the Chinese. One of the earliest Chinese thinkers to relate Western alphabets to Chinese was late Ming to early Qing Dynasty scholar-official, the first late Qing reformer to propose that China adopt a system of spelling was Song Shu. A student of the great scholars Yu Yue and Zhang Taiyan, Song had been to Japan and observed the effect of the kana syllabaries. This galvanized him into activity on a number of fronts, one of the most important being reform of the script, while Song did not himself actually create a system for spelling Sinitic languages, his discussion proved fertile and led to a proliferation of schemes for phonetic scripts. The Wade–Giles system was produced by Thomas Wade in 1859, and it was popular and used in English-language publications outside China until 1979. This Sin Wenz or New Writing was much more sophisticated than earlier alphabets. In 1940, several members attended a Border Region Sin Wenz Society convention. Mao Zedong and Zhu De, head of the army, both contributed their calligraphy for the masthead of the Sin Wenz Societys new journal. Outside the CCP, other prominent supporters included Sun Yat-sens son, Sun Fo, Cai Yuanpei, the countrys most prestigious educator, Tao Xingzhi, an educational reformer. Over thirty journals soon appeared written in Sin Wenz, plus large numbers of translations, biographies, some contemporary Chinese literature, and a spectrum of textbooks
21.
Cantonese
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Cantonese, or Standard Cantonese, is a variety of Chinese spoken in the city of Guangzhou in southeastern China. It is the prestige variety of Yue, one of the major subdivisions of Chinese. In mainland China, it is the lingua franca of the province of Guangdong and some neighbouring areas such as Guangxi. In Hong Kong and Macau, Cantonese serves as one of their official languages and it is also spoken amongst overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia and throughout the Western World. When Cantonese and the closely related Yuehai dialects are classified together, Cantonese is viewed as vital part of the cultural identity for its native speakers across large swathes of southeastern China, Hong Kong and Macau. Although Cantonese shares some vocabulary with Mandarin, the two varieties are mutually unintelligible because of differences in pronunciation, grammar and lexicon, sentence structure, in particular the placement of verbs, sometimes differs between the two varieties. This results in the situation in which a Cantonese and a Mandarin text may look similar, in English, the term Cantonese is ambiguous. Cantonese proper is the variety native to the city of Canton and this narrow sense may be specified as Canton language or Guangzhou language in English. However, Cantonese may also refer to the branch of Cantonese that contains Cantonese proper as well as Taishanese and Gaoyang. In this article, Cantonese is used for Cantonese proper, historically, speakers called this variety Canton speech or Guangzhou speech, although this term is now seldom used outside mainland China. In Guangdong province, people call it provincial capital speech or plain speech. In Hong Kong and Macau, as well as among overseas Chinese communities, in mainland China, the term Guangdong speech is also increasingly being used among both native and non-native speakers. Due to its status as a prestige dialect among all the dialects of the Cantonese or Yue branch of Chinese varieties, the official languages of Hong Kong are Chinese and English, as defined in the Hong Kong Basic Law. The Chinese language has different varieties, of which Cantonese is one. Given the traditional predominance of Cantonese within Hong Kong, it is the de facto official spoken form of the Chinese language used in the Hong Kong Government and all courts and it is also used as the medium of instruction in schools, alongside English. A similar situation exists in neighboring Macau, where Chinese is an official language along with Portuguese. As in Hong Kong, Cantonese is the predominant spoken variety of Chinese used in life and is thus the official form of Chinese used in the government. The variant spoken in Hong Kong and Macau is known as Hong Kong Cantonese, Cantonese first developed around the port city of Guangzhou in the Pearl River Delta region of southeastern China
22.
Jyutping
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Jyutping is a romanisation system for Cantonese developed by the Linguistic Society of Hong Kong, an academic group, in 1993. Its formal name is The Linguistic Society of Hong Kong Cantonese Romanisation Scheme, the LSHK promotes the use of this romanisation system. The name Jyutping is a contraction consisting of the first Chinese characters of the terms Jyut6jyu5, only the finals m and ng can be used as standalone nasal syllables. ^ ^ ^ Referring to the pronunciation of these words. There are nine tones in six distinct tone contours in Cantonese, however, as three of the nine are entering tones, which only appear in syllables ending with p, t, and k, they do not have separate tone numbers in Jyutping. Jyutping and the Yale Romanisation of Cantonese represent Cantonese pronunciations with the letters in, The initials, b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, k, ng, h, s, gw, kw. The vowel, aa, a, e, i, o, u, the coda, i, u, m, n, ng, p, t, k. But they differ in the following, The vowels eo and oe represent /ɵ/ and /œː/ respectively in Jyutping, the initial j represents /j/ in Jyutping whereas y is used instead in Yale. The initial z represents /ts/ in Jyutping whereas j is used instead in Yale, the initial c represents /tsʰ/ in Jyutping whereas ch is used instead in Yale. In Jyutping, if no consonant precedes the vowel yu, then the initial j is appended before the vowel, in Yale, the corresponding initial y is never appended before yu under any circumstances. Jyutping defines three finals not in Yale, eu /ɛːu/, em /ɛːm/, and ep /ɛːp/ and these three finals are used in colloquial Cantonese words, such as deu6, lem2, and gep6. To represent tones, only tone numbers are used in Jyutping whereas Yale traditionally uses tone marks together with the letter h. Jyutping and Cantonese Pinyin represent Cantonese pronunciations with the letters in, The initials, b, p, m, f, d, t, n, l, g, k, ng, h, s, gw, kw. The vowel, aa, a, e, i, o, u, the coda, i, u, m, n, ng, p, t, k. But they have differences, The vowel oe represents both /ɵ/ and /œː/ in Cantonese Pinyin whereas eo and oe represent /ɵ/ and /œː/ respectively in Jyutping. The vowel y represents /y/ in Cantonese Pinyin whereas both yu and i are used in Jyutping, the initial dz represents /ts/ in Cantonese Pinyin whereas z is used instead in Jyutping. The initial ts represents /tsʰ/ in Cantonese Pinyin whereas c is used instead in Jyutping. To represent tones, the numbers 1 to 9 are usually used in Cantonese Pinyin, however, only the numbers 1 to 6 are used in Jyutping
23.
China Railway High-speed
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China Railway High-speed is the high-speed rail service operated by China Railway. Hexie Hao is the designation for rolling stock operated for this service, All trains had been marked CRH, before being changed shortly afterwards to the Chinese characters 和谐号 on the centre of the head vehicles and the side of the walls of other vehicles. The introduction of CRH was a part of the sixth national railway speedup. All high-speed trains in use in China are named CRH. CRH1/2A/2B/2E/5 are expected to have a speed of 250 km/h. The new trainsets CRH380A have a maximum test speed of 416.6 km/h, the fastest trainset, CRH380BL, attained a maximum test speed of 487.3 km/h 302.8 mph). High-speed rail services were first introduced in 2007 operating with CRH rolling stock and those run on existing lines that have been upgraded to speeds of up to 250 km/h and on newer dedicated high-speed track rated up to 350 km/h. China Railway High-speed runs different electric multiple unit trainsets, the designs for which are imported from other nations and designated CRH-1 through CRH-5 and CRH380A, CRH380B, CRH trainsets are intended to provide fast and convenient travel between cities. Some of the trainsets are manufactured locally through technology transfer, a key requirement for China, the signalling, track and support structures, control software, and station design are developed domestically with foreign elements as well, so the system as a whole is predominantly Chinese. China currently holds many new patents related to the components of these trains. However, these patents are valid within China, and as such hold no international power. An order for 60 8-car sets had been placed in 2004, with the first few built in Japan and it is designed to have two versions, one with a top operating speed of 220 km/h, the other with a top operating speed of 160 km/h. They will be used on 200 km/h or 250 km/h Inter-city High Speed Rail lines, planned to service by 2011 CRH380A. CRH3C and CRH2C designs have an MOR of 300 km/h, and can reach up to 350 km/h, however, in practical terms, issues such as maintenance costs, comfort, and safety make the maximum speed of more than 380 km/h impractical and remain limiting factors. Based on data published by Sinolink Securities, some changes were made according to the most recent news. ^1 All CRH380B and CRH380C units to be delivered before 2012, ^2 All CRH380D units to be delivered before 2014. Before the introduction of technology, China conducted independent attempts to domestically develop high-speed rail technology. Some notable results included the China Star, but domestic Chinese companies lacked the technology and expertise of foreign companies, if using only their own resources and expertise, the country might need a decade or longer to catch up with developed nations
24.
Wuhan
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Wuhan is the capital of Hubei province, China, and is the most populous city in Central China. It lies in the eastern Jianghan Plain at the intersection of the reaches of the Yangtze. Because of its key role in transportation, Wuhan was sometimes referred to as the Chicago of China by foreign sources. Holding sub-provincial status, Wuhan is recognized as the political, economic, financial, cultural, educational, the city of Wuhan, first termed as such in 1927, has a population of 10,607,700 people as of 2015. In the 1920s, Wuhan was the capital of a leftist Kuomintang government led by Wang Jingwei in opposition to Chiang Kai-shek. At the 2010 census, its built-up area made of 8 out of 10 urban districts was home to 8,821,658 inhabitants, with a 3, 500-year-long history, Wuhan is one of the most ancient and civilized metropolitan cities in China. During the Han dynasty, Hanyang became a busy port. Around that time, walls were built to protect Hanyang and Wuchang, the latter event marks the foundation of Wuhan. In AD223, the Yellow Crane Tower was constructed on the Wuchang side of the Yangtze River, cui Hao, a celebrated poet of the Tang dynasty, visited the building in the early 8th century, his poem made it the most celebrated building in southern China. The city has long been renowned as a center for the arts, under the Mongol rulers, Wuchang was promoted to the status of provincial capital, by the dawn of the 18th century, Hankou had become one of Chinas top four most important towns of trade. In the late 19th century, railroads were extended on an axis through the city. Also during this period foreign powers extracted mercantile concessions, with the riverfront of Hankou being divided up into foreign-controlled merchant districts and these districts contained trading firm offices, warehouses, and docking facilities. On October 10,1911, Sun Yat-sens followers launched the Wuchang Uprising, Wuhan was the capital of a leftist Kuomintang government led by Wang Jingwei, in opposition to Chiang Kai-shek during the 1920s. S. As the battle raged on through 1938, Wuhan and the region had become the site of the Battle of Wuhan. After being taken by the Japanese in late 1938, Wuhan became a major Japanese logistics center for operations in southern China, in December 1944, the city was largely destroyed by U. S. firebombing raids conducted by the Fourteenth Air Force. In 1967, civil strife struck the city in the Wuhan Incident as a result of tensions arising out of the Cultural Revolution. The city has been subject to devastating floods, which are now supposed to be controlled by the ambitious Three Gorges Dam, a project which was completed in 2008. In December 1858, James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, High Commissioner to China, and in the spring of 1861, Counselor Harry Parkes and Admiral Herbert were sent to Wuhan to open a trading port
25.
Guangzhou
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Guangzhou, traditionally romanised as Canton, is the capital and most populous city of the province of Guangdong in southern China. Guangzhou is currently, the third city in mainland China, behind Beijing and Shanghai, holds sub-provincial administrative status. In 2015 the citys area was estimated to have a population of 13,501,100. Some estimates place the population of the area of the Pearl River Delta Mega City as high as 44 million without the Hong Kong SAR and 54 million including it. Guangzhou is ranked as a Beta+ Global city, in recent years, there has been a rapidly increasing number of foreign residents and illegal immigrants from Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Eastern Europe, as well as from Africa. This has led to it being dubbed the Capital of the Third World, the migrant population from other provinces of China in Guangzhou was 40 percent of the citys total population in 2008. Long the only Chinese port accessible to foreign traders, the city fell to the British during the First Opium War. No longer enjoying a monopoly after the war, it lost trade to ports such as Hong Kong and Shanghai. In modern commerce, Guangzhou is best known for its annual Canton Fair, for the three consecutive years 2013–2015, Forbes ranked Guangzhou as the best commercial city on the Chinese mainland. Guǎngzhōu is the pinyin romanisation of the Chinese name 廣州, which was simplified in mainland China to 广州 in the 1950s, before acquiring its current name, the town was known as Panyu, a name still borne by one of Guangzhous districts. The origin of the name is uncertain, with 11 various explanations being offered. The city has sometimes been known as Guangzhou Fu or Guangfu after its status as the capital of a commandery. From this latter name, Guangzhou was known to medieval Persians such as Al-Masudi, under the Southern Han, the city was renamed Xingwang. Under the Qing, it was known to its inhabitants as simply The Provincial Capital. The Chinese abbreviation for Guangzhou is 穗, after its nickname Rice City, the former name City of the Immortals came from the same story. The more recent City of Flowers is usually taken as a reference to the areas greenery. The English name Canton derived from Portuguese Cantão or Cidade de Cantão, although it originally and chiefly applied to the walled city, it was also used in English in reference to Guangdong generally. It was adopted as the Postal Map Romanization of Guangzhou and remained in use until the gradual adoption of pinyin
26.
Electric multiple unit
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An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages, using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as traction motors are incorporated within one or a number of the carriages. An EMU is usually formed of two or more semi-permanently coupled carriages, but electrically powered single-unit railcars are also classed as EMUs. EMUs are popular on commuter and suburban rail networks around the world due to their fast acceleration, being quieter than DMUs and locomotive-drawn trains, EMUs can operate later at night and more frequently without disturbing residents living near the railway lines. The first EMUs were used on the elevated Liverpool Overhead Railway in 1893, the southern terminal of the railway was underground, giving the LOR the distinction of also being the first to use EMUs underground. Each carriage had a traction motor and was specifically designed and constructed to be light in weight while running on elevated steel sections. The first EMUs were two-carriage trains later graduating to three carriages, with the front and rear carriages powered, Liverpool Museum retains an example of the Liverpool Overhead Railway EMU carriage. An early proponent of EMUs was the American engineer Frank J. Sprague, the cars that form a complete EMU set can usually be separated by function into four types, power car, motor car, driving car, and trailer car. Each car can have more than one function, such as a car or power-driving car. A power car carries the equipment to draw power from the electrified infrastructure, such as pickup shoes for third rail systems and pantographs for overhead systems. Motor cars carry the traction motors to move the train, and are combined with the power car to avoid high-voltage inter-car connections. Driving cars are similar to a cab car, containing a drivers cab for controlling the train, an EMU will usually have two driving cars at its outer ends. Trailer cars are any cars that carry little or no traction or power related equipment, on third rail systems the outer vehicles usually carry the pick up shoes, with the motor vehicles receiving the current via intra-unit connections. Many modern 2-car EMU sets are set up as married pair units, while both units in a married pair are typically driving motors, the ancillary equipment are shared between the two cars in the set. Since neither car can operate without its partner, such sets are permanently coupled, advantages of married pair units include weight and cost savings over single-unit cars while allowing all cars to be powered, unlike a motor-trailer combination. Disadvantages include a loss of flexibility, as trains must be multiples of two cars, and a failure on a single car could force removing both it and its partner from service. The retired New York–Washington Metroliner service, first operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad and later by Amtrak, also featured high-speed electric multiple-unit cars, diesel multiple unit Battery electric multiple unit British electric multiple units Media related to Electric multiple unit at Wikimedia Commons
27.
Siemens
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Siemens AG is a German conglomerate company headquartered in Berlin and Munich and the largest manufacturing and electronics company in Europe with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the company are Industry, Energy, Healthcare, and Infrastructure & Cities, the company is a component of the Euro Stoxx 50 stock market index. Siemens and its subsidiaries employ approximately 362,000 people worldwide, the von Siemens family remain the largest shareholder with a stake of 6. 9% percent. Siemens & Halske was founded by Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske on 12 October 1847, based on the telegraph, their invention used a needle to point to the sequence of letters, instead of using Morse code. The company, then called Telegraphen-Bauanstalt von Siemens & Halske, opened its first workshop on 12 October, in 1848, the company built the first long-distance telegraph line in Europe,500 km from Berlin to Frankfurt am Main. In 1850, the younger brother, Carl Wilhelm Siemens, later Sir William Siemens. The London agency became an office in 1858. In the 1850s, the company was involved in building long distance telegraph networks in Russia, in 1855, a company branch headed by another brother, Carl Heinrich von Siemens, opened in St Petersburg, Russia. In 1867, Siemens completed the monumental Indo-European telegraph line, in 1867, Werner von Siemens described a dynamo without permanent magnets. A similar system was independently invented by Charles Wheatstone. In 1881, a Siemens AC Alternator driven by a watermill was used to power the worlds first electric lighting in the town of Godalming. The company continued to grow and diversified into electric trains and light bulbs, in 1890, the founder retired and left running the company to his brother Carl and sons Arnold and Wilhelm. In 1887, it opened its first office in Japan, Siemens & Halske was incorporated in 1897, and then merged parts of its activities with Schuckert & Co. Nuremberg in 1903 to become Siemens-Schuckert, in 1907, Siemens had 34,324 employees and was the seventh-largest company in the German empire by number of employees. In 1919, S & H and two companies jointly formed the Osram lightbulb company. During the 1920s and 1930s, S & H started to manufacture radios, television sets, in the 1920s, Siemens constructed the Ardnacrusha Hydro Power station on the River Shannon in the then Irish Free State, and it was a world first for its design. The company is remembered for its desire to raise the wages of its workers only to be overruled by the Cumann na nGaedheal government. Siemens exploited the forced labour of deported people in extermination camps, the company owned a plant in Auschwitz concentration camp
28.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries
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/kaʊ. əˈsɑːki/ is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of motorcycles, heavy equipment, aerospace and defense equipment, rolling stock and ships. It is also active in the production of industrial robots, gas turbines, boilers, the company is named after its founder Shōzō Kawasaki, and has dual headquarters in Chūō-ku, Kobe and Minato, Tokyo. KHI is known as one of the three major industrial manufacturers of Japan, alongside Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and IHI. Prior to World War II, KHI was part of the Kobe Kawasaki zaibatsu, after the war, KHI became part of the DKB Group. Kawasaki is active in a range of the aerospace industry. It is currently developing two large, next-generation aircraft, the XP-1 maritime patrol airplane and the XC-2 transport aircraft, Kawasaki also builds helicopters, including the BK117, jointly developed and manufactured with MBB. It also produces the CH-47J / JA helicopter, in the commercial aviation business, the company is involved in the joint international development and production of large passenger aircraft. It is involved in joint development and production of the Boeing 767, Boeing 777 and Boeing 787 with The Boeing Company, and the 170,175,190 and 195 jets with Empresa Brasileira de Aeronáutica. It is also involved in the joint international development and production of engines for passenger aircraft such as the V2500, the RB211/Trent, the PW4000. Kawasaki also works for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the Company was responsible for the development and production of the payload fairings, payload attach fittings and the construction of the launch complex for the H-II rocket. It continues to provide services for the H-IIA rocket, main products Aircraft Space systems Helicopters Simulators Jet engines Missiles Electronic equipment Kawasaki is Japan’s largest manufacturer of rolling stock. It began operations in the industry in 1906 and it manufactures express and commuter trains, subway cars, freight trains, locomotives, monorails and new transit systems. Kawasaki is also involved in the development and design of high-speed trains such as Japan’s Shinkansen and its product range include high-performance LNG and LPG carriers, container ships, bulk carriers and VLCCs, as well as submarines. The Company is also involved in the development of offshore structures, Kawasaki also produces marine machinery and equipment, including main engines, propulsion systems, steering gears, deck and fishing machinery. It also offers industrial plant engineering from design to sales, main products Industrial plants Industrial robots Aerodynamic machinery Hydraulic equipment Kawasaki is involved in the development of equipment that prevents pollution in a wide range of industries. Among the leading products are fuel gas desulfurization and denitrification systems, the Company also supplies municipal refuse incineration plants, gasification and melting systems, sewage treatment and sludge incineration plants. Kawasaki has also been developing systems that enable a range of municipal and industrial waste to be recovered, recycled. The company offers of storage solutions for LNG, Kawasaki’s portfolio also includes retractable roofs, floors and other giant structures, for construction, Kawasaki produces products such as wheel loaders, tunnel machines, rollers, snowplows and purpose specific loaders
29.
LGV Est
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The Ligne à Grande Vitesse Est européenne, typically shortened to LGV Est, is a French high-speed rail line that connects Vaires-sur-Marne and Vendenheim. The line halved the time between Paris and Strasbourg and provides fast services between Paris and the principal cities of eastern France as well as Luxembourg, Germany. The LGV Est is a segment of the Main line for Europe project to connect Paris with Budapest with high-speed rail service, the line was built in two phases. Construction on the 300 km from Vaires-sur-Marne to Baudrecourt began in 2004, Construction on the 106 km second phase from Baudrecourt to Vendenheim began in June 2010, the second phase opened to commercial service on 3 July 2016. Opening of the phase was delayed after a train derailed near Eckwersheim during commissioning trials. A specially modified train performed a series of high-speed tests on the first phase of the LGV Est prior to its opening, in April 2007, it reached a top speed of 574.8 km/h, becoming the fastest conventional train and fastest train on a national rail system. The line passes through the French regions of Grand Est and Île-de-France, the first 300 km section of this new route, linking Vaires-sur-Marne near Paris to Baudrecourt in the Moselle, entered service on 10 June 2007. The second phase includes the 4, 200-metre Saverne Tunnel, in 1969, Metz politician Raymond Mondon requested a study of a fast train from Paris to Strasbourg along the route of the planned A4 autoroute. In 1970-71, the International Union of Railways developed a plan of fast intercity connections in continental Europe. Its connection between Paris and Strasbourg was very similar to the route of the LGV Est, the UIC master plan called for this line to be constructed shortly after Paris-Lyon and Paris-Brussels lines. In 1974, the director of SNCF confirmed that the wanted to follow the UIC master plan. Germany, which was developing the Transrapid maglev system, was reserved about the TGV system being developed by France. A1975 study concluded that the traffic to only Alsace. In 1982, recognizing German reluctance to extend the line into Germany, the LGV Est is a direct result of a project begun in 1985 with the establishment of a working group chaired by Claude Rattier and later by Philippe Essig. Their report provided the basis for design studies conducted in 1992-93. The initial 1980s plan extended along a corridor from Paris to Munich, in 1988, the German government agreed to a rail line from Paris to Frankfurt via Saarbrücken. The following year, Philippe Essig presented the route that would later be built and at the same time addressed the other problem and this route, further north than previous proposals, served Reims and Strasbourg. Financing of this called for contributions from local governments—a first in France for construction of a high-speed line—and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
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Wenzhou train collision
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On 23 July 2011, two high-speed trains travelling on the Yongtaiwen railway line collided on a viaduct in the suburbs of Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, China. The two trains derailed each other, and four cars fell off the viaduct,40 people were killed, at least 192 were injured,12 of which were severe injuries. Officials responded to the accident by hastily concluding rescue operations and ordering the burial of the derailed cars and these actions elicited strong criticism from Chinese media and online communities. In response, the government issued directives to restrict media coverage, high speed was not a factor in the accident, however, since neither train was moving faster than 99 km/h, a moderate speed for a passenger train. The accident, the first of its kind, had a impact on the development of high-speed rail in China. Public confidence in high-speed rail eroded, leading to lower ridership, Construction of high-speed rail lines in China was temporarily suspended as the accident was under investigation. Speeds on other major high-speed rail lines in China were reduced, Chinas reputation in high-speed railway technology was scrutinized internationally. In response to the accident, Railways minister Sheng Guangzu announced a comprehensive two-month railway safety review, the Chinese government has invested billions of dollars in the rapid expansion of its high-speed railway network in recent years, including over RMB¥700 billion on high speed rail in 2010. China’s high speed rail now stretches across more than 8,538 km expanding to 13,000 km by 2012, the nations entire 91,000 km rail network carried 1.68 billion rides in 2010 with little or no cause for alarm. According to BBC, by 2012, mainland China will have more high-speed railway tracks than the rest of the put together. Railway signalling systems are designed to prevent any train entering a stretch of track occupied by another train. But in the Wenzhou collision, Train D301 ran onto track occupied by Train D3115, the CTCS-2 system uses the classical technology of track circuits to detect the presence of a train on a piece of track. Using the data it has received, the computer calculates a speed control curve showing the speed the train can maintain while allowing sufficient braking distance before any danger. The information is displayed to the driver on a monitor. Should the driver disregard this information by overspeeding, or enter a danger zone, as of 31 July 2011, Chinese authorities had failed to provide any logical explanation of why the safeguards built into the CTCS-2 signal technology had failed to work in the Wenzhou collision. Various announcements indicated both defects in equipment and defects in operating procedures, Chinese official announcements were both confused and confusing. An Lusheng, the chief of the Shanghai Railway Bureau, was quoted as saying that a device had failed to turn green to red. But CTCS-2 equipped trains do not rely on drivers observing green or red wayside signals, early announcements spoke of Train D3115 being stopped by a lightning strike, but that would not cause the accident
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Yuan (currency)
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The yuan is the base unit of a number of former and present-day Chinese currencies, and usually refers to the primary unit of account of the renminbi, the currency of the Peoples Republic of China. It is also used as a synonym of that currency, especially in international contexts – the ISO4217 standard code for renminbi is CNY, a yuan is also known colloquially as a kuai. One yuan is divided into 10 jiao or colloquially mao, one jiao is divided into 10 fen. When used in English in the context of the foreign exchange market, the Chinese yuan refers to the renminbi. Having been in use for at least 2000 years, the yuan was probably the first decimal currency system and it is also considered the first to use metal coins and bank notes. In Standard Chinese, yuán literally means an object or round coin. During the Qing Dynasty, the yuan was a coin made of silver. In informal contexts, the word is written with the simplified Chinese character 元, in formal contexts it is written with the simplified character 圆 or with the traditional version 圓, both meaning round, after the shape of the coins. These are all pronounced yuán in modern Standard Chinese, but were originally pronounced differently, in the Peoples Republic of China, ￥ or RMB is often prefixed to the amount to indicate that the currency is the renminbi. In many parts of China, the unit of renminbi is sometimes colloquially called kuài rather than yuán, in Cantonese, widely spoken in Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong and Macau, the yuan, jiao, and fen are called mān, hòuh, and sīn, respectively. Sīn is a word from the English cent. The traditional character 圓 is also used to denote the Hong Kong dollar, the Macanese pataca, however, they do not share the same names for the subdivisions. The New Taiwan dollar is referred to in Standard Chinese as yuán. The names of the Korean and Japanese currency units, won and yen respectively, are cognates of Mandarin yuán, also meaning round in the Korean and Japanese languages. The Japanese yen was also written with the kanji character 圓. The Korean won used to be written with the hanja character 圜 from 1902 to 1910 and it is now written as 원 in Hangul exclusively, in both North and South Korea. It was subdivided into 1000 cash,100 cents or fen and it replaced copper cash and various silver ingots called sycees. The sycees were denominated in tael, the yuan was valued at 0.72 tael
