Transportation

Transportation in Taiwan

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:27:09 -0600

Railways:
total: 2,481 km (519 km electrified)
narrow gauge: 2,481 km 1.067-m (1999)

Taiwan's High Speed Rail:
It is currently under construction. It runs approximately 345 kilometer from Taipei to Kaohsiung. It adopted Japan's Shinkansen technology for the core system. It will use 700T Series Shinkansen.

Highways:
total: 34,901 km
paved: 31,271 km (including 538 km of expressways)
unpaved: 3,630 km (1998 est.)

Pipelines:
petroleum products 3,400 km; natural gas 1,800 km (1999)

Ports and harbors:
Chi-lung (Keelung), Hua-lien, Kao-hsiung, Su-ao, T'ai-chung

Transportation

Transportation in China

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:23:56 -0600

Transportation in the People's Republic of China has improved remarkably starting in the late 1990s as part of a government effort to link the entire nation through a series of expressways known as the National Trunk Highway System. Private car ownership is increasing but remains uncommon, in large part due to government policies designed to make car ownership expensive through the use of taxes and toll roads.
Air travel has increased since the late-1990s but remains out of reach for most ordinary Chinese. Long distance transportation for most Chinese is still dominated by the railways and bus systems.

Transportation

Transportation in Macau

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:20:25 -0600

Roads and Bridges
Macau has 321 kilometers of public roads. Two highway bridges link Macau to Zhuhai, the most recent of which, the 1.3-kilometer-long, six-lane Lotus Bridge, opened in December 1999. Two bridges link peninsular Macau with Taipa. The first, a 2.6 kilometer-long highway bridge, was completed in 1974; the second, completed in 1994 to serve the new Macau International Airport, is 4.4 kilometers long and four lanes wide. An eight-kilometer-long dual-lane highway links the airport and the Zhuhai border crossing. Taipa is connected to Coloane with a 2.2-kilometer-long causeway. The 38-kilometer-long connector, to be called the Lingdingyang Bridge, has been proposed to link Macau and Zhuhai with Shenzhen and Hong Kong.

Transportation

Transportation in Hong Kong

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:17:46 -0600

The main islands Hong Kong Island and Lantau are both connected to the Kowloon peninsula with bridges and tunnels, both for road and rail traffic. As public transport is well-developed, the rate of car ownership is fairly low.

Most mass and local transit takes advantage of the Octopus card for fare collection. The city is accessible by an efficient MTR subway system, buses, light buses, electric tram and taxi cabs.

Escalators and moving sidewalks
Hong Kong Island is dominated by steep, hilly terrain, which makes it the home of some rather unusual methods of transport up and down the slopes. In the Central and Western district there is an extensive system of escalators and moving sidewalks. The Midlevels Escalator is the longest outdoor covered escalator system in the world, operating downhill in the morning for commuters going to work, and working uphill the rest of the time.

Transportation

Railways in Mainland China

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:12:14 -0600

Transrapid (a German maglev company, which has a test track in Emsland, Germany), constructed the first operational maglev railway in the world, from Shanghai to its airport. It was inaugurated in 2002. Commercial exploitation is planned for 2003.

There is an ambitious plan for more high speed rail by 2005.

Qinghai-Tibet railroad
A 670 mile (1118 km) long Qinghai-Tibet railroad to Lhasa is currently under construction. It includes the now finished construction of the 3,345-meter long Yangbajain No. 1 tunnel which is 4,264 meters above sea level and located 80 kilometers away from the regional capital Lhasa.

Transportation

Pu Dong International Airport

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:09:46 -0600

Pu Dong International Airport is an airport located in the Pudong district of Shanghai, People's Republic of China. Its IATA Airport Code is PVG.

Hongqiao Airport was at first Shanghai's primary international airport, but all of its international flights went to Pu Dong after it was completed.

Transrapid (a German maglev company, which has a test track in Emsland, Germany), constructed the first operational maglev railway in the world, from Shanghai, to the Pu Dong International Airport. It was inaugurated in 2002. It has a peak speed of 430 km/h and a track length of 30 km.

Transportation

National Trunk Highway System

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:08:09 -0600

The National Trunk Highway System is a system of freeways currently under construction in the People's Republic of China. It is similar in scope to the Interstate highway system in the United States.

Construction began in 1990 and it is scheduled to be complete in 2020. The scale of the project can be seen by the fact that in 1989, the PRC had 271 km of freeways, but by 2004, it had 29,800 km of freeway, 4600 km of which were built in 2003.

Unlike other freeway systems, almost all of the roads on the NTHS are toll roads which are largely financed by private companies under contract from provincial governments. The private companies raise money through bond and stock offerings and recover money through tolls.

Transportation

MTR

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:06:00 -0600

The MTR or Mass Transit Railway (HKSE:0066) is the subway train system of Hong Kong. It is operated by MTR Corporations Ltd., a company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and included in the Hang Seng Index.

Routes
The network has 6 lines and 50 stations:

Kwun Tong Line: between Yau Ma Tei and Tiu Keng Leng
Tsuen Wan Line: between Tsuen Wan and Central
Island Line: between Sheung Wan and Chai Wan - on Hong Kong Island
Tseung Kwan O Line: between Po Lam and North Point
Tung Chung Line: between Tung Chung and Hong Kong station (Central)
Airport Express: between the Airport and Hong Kong station (Central)

Transportation

Macau International Airport

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:56:44 -0600

The Macau International Airport, in Macau, a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, is a small aviation center with jet operations every day. It uses the IATA Airport Code MFM.

The airport was built on land reclaimed from the sea, next to Taipa Island (considered part of it now). It started operation in 1995.

Macau International Airport is capable of handling Boeing 747s, which is convenient for the island because Macau is used by many manufacturers such as Mattel, which uses Macau's facilities to build its Hot Wheels toy car line.

Macau International Airport is the only airport that serves the territory of Macau. It is the hub for Air Macau.

Transportation

Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:55:06 -0600

Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) is wholly owned by the Hong Kong SAR government and based in Hong Kong. It owns and operates the Kowloon-Canton Railway (KCR) and the Light Rail Transit System.

KCRC has three major rail lines - the original Kowloon-Canton Railway - known as the 'East Rail', the 'Light Rail' system serving the 'New Towns' in northwestern New Territories, and the 'West Rail', which links the northwestern New Territories to the city.

KCR East Rail and Light Rail move more than one million people per day.

KCR offers domestic train services in Kowloon and the northeast New Territories, and a cross-boundary service into mainland China. The cross-boundary East Rail has been KCRC's dominant revenue generator and key growth area. It is the only rail link to mainland China, capturing over 70% of all passenger traffic.

Transportation

Karakorum Highway

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:52:42 -0600

The Karakorum highway (KKH) is a road in northern Pakistan that links Islamabad with Kashgar, China over the Khunjerab Pass. It was built through some highly mountainous terrain between 1966 and 1982 (opened in 1986) by the Pakistani government with much Chinese assistance at a high human cost as well as financial ($3 bn), an estimated 25,000 worked and 1,300 died during construction (882 official). It is over 1,250 km in length and despite constant efforts the harsh climate, snow and regular landslides often interrupt travel.

In recent years, it has become something of a destination for adventure travel.

Transportation

Hongqiao Airport

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:51:12 -0600

Hongqiao Airport is one of the two airports in Shanghai.

History
Hongqiao Airport once had the international flights into Shanghai. As soon as Pu Dong International Airport appeared, Hongqiao lost its international service.

Connecting transport
Two taxi ranks, divided in to long and short distance, service the airport.

A bus stop provides various services to other parts of the city. As of October 2003, one minibus route terminates at Jing An Temple station, and costs four renminbi.

Transportation

Hong Kong International Airport

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:48:51 -0600

Hong Kong International Airport is popularly referred to as Chek Lap Kok Airport, after Chek Lap Kok, one of the islands that make up the airport's 1,248-hectare platform reclaimed from sea. HKIA was built on an artificial island built with tons of landfill, and is connected to the north side of Lantau Island and the newly developed city of Tung Chung.

Chek Lap Kok is the replacement for the old Hong Kong International Airport, popularly known as Kai Tak International Airport, which had a spectacular urban approach, causing noise pollution for nearby residents. After complaints from residents and pilots flying to Hong Kong, Kai Tak was retired after operations were moved to Chek Lap Kok. Many aviation enthusiasts were upset with the death of Kai Tak, because of the unique approach. Pilots had to use a checkerboard on a hill to safely land at Kai Tak. Chep Lap Kok's landing is an ordinary landing.

Transportation

Dragonair

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:46:11 -0600

Dragonair (Pinyin: Ganglóng, literally "Dragon of Hong Kong") is a major airline based in Hong Kong. It is associated to Cathay Pacific.

History
Dragonair started flying in July of 1985, with a Boeing 737, in a flight from Kai Tak International Airport to Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia. At the time, Dragonair was only a small new player in the Asian skies, and the airline's name was Hong Kong Dragon Airlines. In 1986, the airline officially changed its name to Dragonair (although its Chinese name remained the same). In 1987, the airline began charter flights to mainland China. This was also the year that Dragonair became the first Hong Kong-based airline to join the IATA. The airline kept a slow but steady growth throught the 1990s, decade in which it became associated with Cathay Pacific. In 1993, Airbus A320's joined the fleet, followed by Airbus A330s in 1995. In 1998, Dragonair became the last airline to have a plane landing at Kai Tak International Airport. Nowadays, Dragonair flies to 29 destinations.

Transportation

China Southern Airlines

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:43:39 -0600

China Southern Airlines is an airline based in Guangzhou in the Guangdong province of the People's Republic of China. Its main operations hub is at Baiyun International Airport, although some of its international flights operate from Beijing Capital International Airport.

History
Accidents
On May 8, 1997, a China Southern Boeing 737 jetliner crashed on approach into Shenzhen's Huangtian Airport killing 35. On February 24, 1999, a China Southern Tupolev TU-154 airliner crashed on approach to Wenzhou Airport in eastern China killing 61. On May 7, 2002, a China Southern MD-82 plunged into the Yellow Sea killing 112 people.

Transportation

China Airlines

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:40:21 -0600

China Airlines (CAL,commonly abbreviated) is the state-owned airline of the Republic of China and is based in Taipei, Taiwan (not to be confused with Air China, which is owned by the People's Republic of China).

The airline flies out of Chiang Kai Shek International Airport.

China Airlines currently flies to many destinations in Asia, Europe, North America and the South Pacific. Because of political obstacles due to the establishment of the three links, it does not have regularly scheduled flights into mainland China, and passengers to mainland China must to through Hong Kong, and transfer into another airline. In recent years, the airline has had to struggle with the negative public perception caused by a string of major crashes. Its main competitor is EVA Airlines.

Transportation

Chiang Kai-shek International Airport

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 07:37:52 -0600

Chiang Kai-shek International Airport (pinyin: Zhongzhèng Gúoji Hángkongzhàn) is located in Taoyuan, Taiwan, Republic of China and is one of two airports that serve Taipei. The other is Sungshan Domestic Airport, which is within the city limits and formerly served Taipei as its international airport before CKS's construction.

Chiang Kai-shek International Airport is a major hub for China Airlines and EVA Air, and has the IATA Airport Code TPE. It is also one of two international airports on Taiwan, and is by far the busiest international air entry point into Taiwan.

The airport is named after former President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek. The airport's name is referred to in Chinese as Chung-cheng (Zhongzheng), his given name at birth, without his surname. In a situation which is similar to Ronald Reagan-Washington National Airport, local officials in Taoyuan and other members of the pan-Green coalition often refer to it as the Taoyuan International Airport.

Transportation

Cathay Pacific Airways

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:32:24 -0600

Cathay Pacific (Pinyin: Guótài Hánggong Youxiàn Gongsi, abbreviated) is an Asian commercial airline based in Hong Kong. Their hub is in Hong Kong International Airport, or "Chek Lap Kok International Airport". Kai Tak International Airport was used before Chek Lap Kok was built. Its IATA designator is CX.

The company flies around a million passengers a month to sixty-two destinations and carries around 80,000 tonnes of cargo through AHK (Air Hong Kong). In 2001 the airline had a turnover of HK$ 30,436 million and made a profit of HK$ 657 million. The operating fleet numbers 75 aircraft, a mixture of Airbus and Boeing aircraft, and employs 14,500 people (2001).

Transportation

Beijing Capital International Airport

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 06:30:40 -0600

Beijing Capital International Airport is an airport in Beijing, People's Republic of China. Its IATA Airport Code is PEK. The airport is a hub for Air China.

Transportation
The airport used to be remote when it was first created in the early days. Then, a solitary, narrow road served it from the area now known as Sanyuanqiao.

When China started opening up in the 1980s, the airport was full of activity and the tiny, narrow road that used to serve it was tested to the limit. As a result, in the early 1990s, a nearly 20 km. stretch of toll expressway -- the Airport Expressway -- connecting downtown Beijing from the Northeastern 3rd Ring Road at Sanyuanqiao directly to the airport was opened.

Transportation

Airlines That Fly To China

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:59:36 -0600

Transportation

Air China

data2 — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 05:46:46 -0600

Air China (literally "Chinese International Aviation Company", abbreviated) is the People's Republic of China's state owned and largest commercial airline (not to be confused with China Airlines, which is the Republic of China on Taiwan's state airline). It was setup in 1988 upon the sub-division of the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to fly international routes although it also operated a few domestic sectors. Its main hub is Beijing Capital International Airport. Further deregulation of the aviation business took place in 1994, enabling foreign investment in airports and facilitating the import of aircraft built outside mainland China. By 1996 the country had 108 airports with scheduled airline services and around 30 different airlines.

Transportation