9th World Congress on High Speed Rail- Tokyo 2015

[bikkuri bahn]

Event begins today, at Tokyo International Forum in Yurakucho.

The Congress is being coordinated by East Japan Railway Company in collaboration with all parties involved in high speed rail in Japan, and more generally with all UIC member railways.
This is the world’s most important meeting for high-speed rail, and is expected to attract more than 1,000 attendees from across the globe to exchange views on the development and achievements of high-speed rail worldwide.
The World Congress will feature international rail experts on transportation policy and technology. It will bring the public and private sectors together to provide insight and identify best practices for implementing high-speed rail projects at every stage - from planning, financing, and construction, to operations and management. Also, the Congress will feature an exhibit showcasing high-speed rail products and services.

 

http://www.uic-highspeed2015.com/index.html

[bikkuri bahn]

PM Abe made a speech in the opening ceremony and also spoke with Vladimir Yakunin, Chairman of UIC and CEO of Russian Railways.

 

http://www.nikkei.com/article/DGXLASFL07H8U_X00C15A7000000/

[bikkuri bahn]

TOKYO: Big players in the rail technology industry announced their expansion plans at the World Congress on High Speed Rail, as it kicked off on Tuesday (Jul 8) in Tokyo.

“2017 marks the opening of four new lines, adding 800 km to the French network, with support from regional and local government," said Guillaume Pepy, Chairman of France's state-owned railway company SNCF, during the four-day conference hosted by the International Union of Railways. 

 

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asiapacific/high-speed-train-industry/1968564.html

 

TOKYO, July 7, 2015: 

Creating rail communication between Russia’s island of Sakhalin in the Far East and Japan’s Hokkaido island is technically possible, Russian Railways chief executive officer Vladimir Yakunin said yesterday.

“It is technically possible. Japanese and Russian companies are interested in it,” Russia’s TASS news agency quoted Yakunin as saying.

He did not rule out the possibility of using Japanese Shinkansen trains in the Russian Far East, in case a line of high-speed rail communication is built.

“We are studying Japanese advanced technologies in the railway communication sector.”

 

http://www.therakyatpost.com/business/2015/07/07/russia-keen-on-rail-link-to-japan-via-hokkaido/

[JR 500系]

The link to Russia via Hokkaido will be interesting! Generates tourism to Hokkaido and to Russia too, but is there an existing high speed rail from the island Sakhalin to the main island of Russia?

[railsquid]

There's no direct rail link at all between Sakhalin and the rest of the world (though apparently there's a train ferry), but maybe plans are afoot.

 

Anyway a Hokkaido-Sakhalin tunnel sounds very hand-waving what-if - there are lots of things which are technically possible - whether there's anything resembling an economic use-case is another question.

Edited July 8, 2015 by railsquid