QUORA網站讀者評論：Nathan PalovcikTo compare the shinkansen and Chinese CRH is somwewhat akin to comparison between a Rolls-Royce and a Geely.The Japanese shinkansen literally invented commercial high-speed rail travel, introduced in time for the 1964 summer Olympics. Its technology has been refined and perfected ever since, and the shinkansen network has a *literal* perfect safety record for casualties - there has never been a single passenger death due to accident or mismanagement in 54 years of service. Might I also add; that service runs 365 days a year, 19 hours a day, on some lines every 3 MINUTES, and speeds up to 330km/h. Your local city subway probably doesn’t run every 3 minutes.
By contrast, the Chinese high-speed rail system is a hodge-podge of purchased and outright-stolen technology from every worldwide high-speed manufacturer, and the network was built to its huge size in the span of barely a decade at huge expense. You can literally see the deliberate intent in the purchase orders made by the Chinese state railways; trainsets from Kawasaki, Kinki Sharyo, Alstom, Siemens, Bombardier. Chinese state railways purchased them all with the intent to reverse-engineer them and build competing products to internalize their own network and export competing products abroad, which they are now attempting to do with newer CRH-series trainsets.
Alexis Eggermont, Lived in ChinaMy experiences on both have been quite similar. Similar speed (the CRH used to reach 350 km/h but this was brought down to 300), similar smoothness, both very comfortable. The main difference (again, my experience only) is CRH trains being more crowded and noisy (noise generated by people, not the train).For safety, the Shinkansen has a spotless record. The Shinkansen has been operating longer but as of 2015 has a network almost 10 times smaller than the CRH (List of high-speed rail lines), so I could imagine that the number of cumulative passenger-kilometers traveled on the CRH is now higher than the Shinkansen. I do not think it's possible to extract statistically significant patterns from so few incidents.Generally, I believe the CRH is cheaper per kilometer traveled, as is generally the case when it comes to transportation in China vs Japan.
Jonas SauciunasWhile some try using historical achievements of the Japanese Shinkansen (invention of the HS trains) I don’t see how that really matters to somebody who wants to have a good and comfortable journey.Let’s look at the objective criteria:
Speed. CRH takes the cake here. Much of the HS network in China is designed for 350+KM/H operation. Capped at 310KM/H for most part and 350KM/H on Beijing Shanghai line. Both maximum and average speeds are exceeding anything on the Shinkansen network.Comfort. CRH wins here easily. Simply because tracks are new and built to much higher technical specs. 7000m curve radius on 300+KM/H lines al;lowing to make turns at 350+KM/H, ballastless tracks and continuous 350KM/H speeds for THOUSANDS of kilometers are unheard of in Japan or anywhere else in the world for that matter. While this is indeed because it’s new (Shinkansen is obviously much older for most part) the fact remains that CRH is a faster AND more comfortable train service.Service. Shinkansen takes this one as Japan has extraordinarily good service culture and Shinkansen is part of that. CRH service is also good though.Stations. Japanese stations tend to be smaller but centrally located. CRH stations tend to be larger, more spacious and located outside city core (exceptions exist though).Safety. Shinkansen has a pretty much perfect track record in terms of fatalities. Despite that both systems should be considered as very safe provided the network size and ridership figures.Overall technology. CRH takes this one. As mentioned before, due to objectively higher tech specs applied to tracks and trains. While Japanese train makers and engineers are probably capable to match their Chinese colleagues this only applies in theory as it would not make economic sense for Japan to upgrade everything just to increase the speed and comfort a bit. In practice China has got better technology which is actually functioning so, once again, this goes to CRH.
To sum it all up, China has faster, more comfortable trains which run on a larger and more advanced infrastructure. Japan has better service and safety record. You decide which one you prefer.
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