China Rolling out Global high speed rail plans and projects - From Pan-asian plan to future Africa projects and proposed China-Russia-Canada-US line

China is adding a new $10 billion credit line for Africa on top of the existing $20 billion already offered. China will boost the China-Africa Development Fund by $2 billion, bringing it to a total of $5 billion

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang depicted a dream that all African capitals are connected with high-speed rail, so as to boost pan-African communication and development

Li’s trip, which also takes in oil-rich Nigeria and Angola, would not simply be for energy deals and Beijing will be seeking to help boost African living standards.

Li said he hoped that some of the loans being offered would be used to support small and medium-seized companies in Africa, adding that economic development on the continent offered huge opportunities for both China and Africa.

“History and reality make clear to all: China’s development gives opportunity to Africa; Africa develops, and China also benefits,” he said.

Trips by Chinese leaders to Africa are often marked by big natural resource deals, triggering criticism from some quarters that China is only interested in the continent’s mineral and energy wealth.

The state-run Beijing Times newspaper reports of a proposed high speed rail line that would begin in north-east China and run up through Siberia, pass through a tunnel underneath the Pacific Ocean then cut through Alaska and Canada to reach the continental US.

Crossing the Bering Strait in between Russia and Alaska would require about 200km (125 miles) of undersea tunnel, the paper said, citing Wang Mengshu, a railway expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

“Right now we’re already in discussions. Russia has already been thinking about this for many years,” Wang said.

The project – nicknamed the “China-Russia-Canada-America” line – would run for 13,000km, about 3,000km further than the Trans-Siberian Railway. The entire trip would take two days, with the train travelling at an average of 350km/h (220mph).

NBF – China’s fastest test trains can go about double this speed and low air pressure tunnels could further boost the speed. If the line were built it could be upgrade for one day or even twelve hour or less travel times.

The reported plans leave ample room for skepticism. No other Chinese railway experts have come out in support of the proposed project. Whether the government has consulted Russia, the US or Canada is also unclear. The Bering Strait tunnel alone would require an unprecedented feat of engineering – it would be the world’s longest undersea tunnel – four times the length of the Channel Tunnel.

According to the state-run China Daily, the tunnel technology is “already in place” and will be used to build a high-speed railway between the south-east province of Fujian and Taiwan. “The project will be funded and constructed by China,” it said. “The details of this project are yet to be finalised.”

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