On Selection of High-speed Technique for Beijing-Shanghai Railway

The new advances of high speed railway techniques are reviewed. High speed railways based on wheel/rail contact are innovated day after day since its first initiation in 1964.In the same time, the magnetic levitated trains are also studied continuously in many countries.After a brief introduction of the development of these two kind of high speed railway technology in and outside China, a question has been raised: which technique to use for the Beijig Shanghai high speed railway? A detailed comparison between the wheel/rail and the magnetic levitation high speed techniques has been made. It is concluded that the later has superiority only in the case of speed higher than 400 km/h. The maglev technique is still in developing, and no single line commercially operated all over the world.Therefore, the wheel/rail typed high speed train of 300~350 km/h is the most feasible and most optimum choice for the Beijing Shanghai high speed railway.