Chinese Trains Help To Resume The Link Between Cordoba/bsas

[Rich One]

Investment in tracks doesn't win votes ... But bringing new trains in the last few months before elections, after 12 years does..?

 

[sesamosinsal]

Investment in tracks doesn't win votes ... But bringing new trains in the last few months before elections, after 12 years does..?

I guess Argentina should hold elections more often!

Everything is about winning votes. It's not any different in Argentina. Welcome to politics.

 

[sergio]

I think it has been taken over by the gov. China upgraded the tracks quickly when they put the new trains. Here track upgrading is a slow job, they got the trains fast. The Chinese engineers said the communication has to be upgraded too.

China has a horrible history of rushing rail projects that end in fatal accidents. The New Yorker did a long article on the topic of corruption in the Chinese national railways. Vast amounts of money are stolen by officials, projects are rushed and safety standards ignored. Serious accidents occur,

Someone said that the previous equipment was bad. By Argentine standards it was not bad at all. It was a privately run train by a credible company. The exterior of the train looked like the train had a case of severe scarring acne but that was due to all the rock throwing. Windows were covered by plexiglass which made visibility almost impossible. Again that was protection against rock throwing. The new Chinese trains look OK (but the interiors not much different from the old rehabilitated cars) but certainly very basic compared to AMTRAK equipment or western European intercity trains. Anyway, without better track the trains will deteriorate and the service will not amount to much.

 

[garryl]

The inside is not basic, unfortunately. It's better than the AMTRAK running in SF area, certainly a lot better than the BART train.
Argentina did not purchase the high speed trains, which are the most advanced train in China. China normal trains do have a safety record.
They had a bad accident running at 300-400k/hour, now they slowed the speed for all the trains. China upgraded the railway track that is several
times longer than the entire Europe in a few years, including getting the sharp turns smoother, more signal stations, not really changing the tracks.
It's more work on the road.

 

[Ceviche]

Not bad, kinda like a poor American family, does not make ends meet, but still drive new cars.

i love it when my middle class friends from US show off their BMWs on facebook.

 

[sergio]

The inside is not basic, unfortunately. It's better than the AMTRAK running in SF area, certainly a lot better than the BART train.
Argentina did not purchase the high speed trains, which are the most advanced train in China. China normal trains do have a safety record.
They had a bad accident running at 300-400k/hour, now they slowed the speed for all the trains. China upgraded the railway track that is several
times longer than the entire Europe in a few years, including getting the sharp turns smoother, more signal stations, not really changing the tracks.
It's more work on the road.

The pictures with the flourescent overhead lights certainly mske it look basic. Haven't seen that sort of lighting on equipment in the US for decades. I do like the single seats on one side. I notice some windows have small panes at the top. Do these open? Is there a dining car or just a cafe / snack car? Have you seen the sleepers? As for Amtrak, they don't run any local trains out of SF. That would be some regional transportation agency, Caltrans? The only Amtrak trains in the SF area I know of go to LA and Seattle and points east to Chicago. I believe they use the double decker Superliner cars which are really nice. I don't think there is much else except maybe a train to Bakersfield. Whatever equipment they run would be no less than the standard single level cars which are a lot nicer than what I saw in the photos here. The New Yorker article I referred to is my only source of info on Chinese railways. It was a long and indepth analysis that mentiined a lot of safety problems and tremendous skimming off of funds by corrupt officials. I din't think China is up to French, Germsn or Spanish stanards in passenger train comfort or design but Argentina is stuck with a trade relationship with China. I assume China is essentially subsidizing Argentina with these trajns so as to assure its supply of commodities.

 

[garryl]

The pictures with the flourescent overhead lights certainly mske it look basic. Haven't seen that sort of lighting on equipment in the US for decades. I do like the single seats on one side. I notice some windows have small panes at the top. Do these open? Is there a dining car or just a cafe / snack car? Have you seen the sleepers? As for Amtrak, they don't run any local trains out of SF. That would be some regional transportation agency, Caltrans? The only Amtrak trains in the SF area I know of go to LA and Seattle and points east to Chicago. I believe they use the double decker Superliner cars which are really nice. I don't think there is much else except maybe a train to Bakersfield. Whatever equipment they run would be no less than the standard single level cars which are a lot nicer than what I saw in the photos here. The New Yorker article I referred to is my only source of info on Chinese railways. It was a long and indepth analysis that mentiined a lot of safety problems and tremendous skimming off of funds by corrupt officials. I din't think China is up to French, Germsn or Spanish stanards in passenger train comfort or design but Argentina is stuck with a trade relationship with China. I assume China is essentially subsidizing Argentina with these trajns so as to assure its supply of commodities.

I think that's LED lights now. All the new trains in China use LED lights. There is a dinning cart. On Chinese trains, they serve complicated meals, but in Argentina trains, they serve white bread. There is Amtrak between Sac and Martinez ( Contra Coast county), kinda in Bay Area, Martinez still in Bay Area. Caltran runs between SF and Sunnyvale. I have taken many trains in China, and many in Europe, not too bad. Certainly better than BART, which they have no money to upgrade, and BART employees are on strike all the time, want better pay. Kinda like AR employees. America has gone down a lot since the global economy started.

 

[sergio]

I think that's LED lights now. All the new trains in China use LED lights. There is a dinning cart. On Chinese trains, they serve complicated meals, but in Argentina trains, they serve white bread. There is Amtrak between Sac and Martinez ( Contra Coast county), kinda in Bay Area, Martinez still in Bay Area. Caltran runs between SF and Sunnyvale. I have taken many trains in China, and many in Europe, not too bad. Certainly better than BART, which they have no money to upgrade, and BART employees are on strike all the time, want better pay. Kinda like AR employees. America has gone down a lot since the global economy started.

BART is public transportation, not inter-city. Yes I guess you are right, LED but the lighting still looks primitive on that train. For new equipment I'd expect individual seat lighting and more ambient overhead light. Did you have a meal in the dining car?

 

[garryl]

No, I did not. The configuration, the seats, the floor plan is ordered by Argentina, under certain budget. This is what Argentina gov ordered. Apparently, they think this is a huge upgrade and they are fine with it. They are lucky someone is willing to finance the deal, give them the trains for free now. These Chinese companies are state owned and government issued the loan (by state banks). Those private companies in Europe and Japan can not withstand a loss. When it becomes pure business, Argentina does not have chance. No one can afford the risk dealing with Argentina. It can bankrupt the train manufactures if any link is broken. China is lucky that it can do this due to the huge foreign reserve they have, this is a special time, not sure they will still have that $ in 5 years. The communist government could change, and things like that will not approved.

 

[sergio]

No, I did not. The configuration, the seats, the floor plan is ordered by Argentina, under certain budget. This is what Argentina gov ordered. Apparently, they think this is a huge upgrade and they are fine with it. They are lucky someone is willing to finance the deal, give them the trains for free now. These Chinese companies are state owned and government issued the loan (by state banks). Those private companies in Europe and Japan can not withstand a loss. When it becomes pure business, Argentina does not have chance. No one can afford the risk dealing with Argentina. It can bankrupt the train manufactures if any link is broken. China is lucky that it can do this due to the huge foreign reserve they have, this is a special time, not sure they will still have that $ in 5 years. The communist government could change, and things like that will not approved.

Yes true that nobody wants to take a risk with Argentina. In the past Argentina bought castoff rolling stock from countries like Spain and Japan (the old Marinouchi line cars were pressed into the "B" line of the subte without even changing their livery - after many years the Japanese characters were still visible. That may still be the case). The new Chinese trains are probably a big improvement. Railways in the UK have been privatized but other than Switzerland are there many private lines in Europe? I think most are state owned and heavily subsidized. Even Amtrak is a government entity.