Trans-Hemithea High-Speed Railway

Trans-Hemithea HSR Line
km Kaerva Nukkumaa Themiclesia Skengrak L′in Ped Ngang Tor P.rim Kien-k'ang Nek Themiclesia Dzhungestan Ancidguur Dorozamyn Dzhungestan Menghe Jinjong Junggyong Donggyong Baekjin Menghe Polvokia Sarantsk Yŏkjŏnpyŏng Polvokia Dayashina Iwanara not!chunnel not!Sapporo not!chunnel not!Aomori Masada Matsuko Nakazara

The Trans-Hemithea High-Speed Railway (Menghean: 태주 횡단 고속 철도; Shinasthana: 內電本, nub-lins-pent) is a planned high-speed rail route which will run across the continent of Hemithea in Septentrion. Six countries are involved in the project: Nukkumaa, Themiclesia, Dzhungestan, Menghe, Polvokia, and Dayashina. When completed, it will be over 8,800 kilometers long; about half of this is new construction, while the other half will run on existing high-speed rail lines in Themiclesia, Menghe, and Dayashina. This project is a component of the continental transport program that CHEA (Central Hemithean Economic Alliance) is implementing.

History

Background

Dayashina, Themiclesia, and Menghe possessed high-speed railways prior to the construction of the THHSR, and it is on the technologies that these countries held that the THHSR is founded. The roots of HSR in Hemithea can be traced to the late 1950s, when the postwar boom created a demand for rapid and accessible intercity transport, for both passengers and freight, due to the re-establishment and augmentation of regional economies into national ones. Conventional railways were unable to satsify this requirement, giving rise to domestic air transport; yet in all three countries, railways were a government monopoly by-and-large, and losing customers to privately owned air business could be financially catastrophic for the governments that owned the railways. Thus, advancement of railway service into that new market became a priority in both Dayashina and Themiclesia almost simultaneously.

Though the demand is the same in both countries, the character and role of HSR is nevertheless ever so slightly different. In Themiclesia, where limited expresses were pulled at 177 km/h by steam engines in the late 1950s, HSR was primarily meant to provide more of the same service by a more efficient and safer technology that had more potential for future development, as the lines used by the steam expresses were already filled to capacity, and steam locomotives seemed to have been perfected, with few leads towards better performance. In Dayashina, however, the domestic narrow gauge (3' 6") prohibited conventional trains from safely moving at speeds over 100 km/h, which compelled a much more revoluntionary developmental prospect, including the adoption of standard guage (4' 8½"), in order to provide a viable railway service to satiate the demand for speed and punctuality. Menghe, though a relative latecomer to HSR, has made remarkable advances under supportive government policies and Themiclesian technological assistance, developing the longest and fastest HSR network in Septentrion.

Planning

Proposals for a high-speed corridor across Hemithea were first floated in 2008, but were portrayed by skeptics as overly optimistic. At the time, Menghe's own high-speed network was still developing, and Nukkumaa-Polvokian relations remained tense over the Upper Tenitsyn land dispute. Discussions resumed in 2013, and in 2014 the six member countries of the Central Hemithean Economic Association concluded an agreement on the completion of a Trans-Hemithea high-speed line.

As the Dayashinese and Themiclesian HSR were jointly developed, and the Menghean HSR was initiated with Themiclesian technology, signalling and train specifications are for the most part mutually compatible. All three countries also used standard-gauge tracks on their high-speed networks, eliminating the need for a transfer of passengers or carriages at any break of gauge along the route. Polvokia used the wider Letnevian gauge on its existing rail network, but it was eventually decided that as the high-speed section through Polvokia would be newly built and would exclusively carry high-speed traffic, it would follow standard gauge as well, much like the distinction between standard-gauge and narrow-gauge rails in Dayashina.

The selected route also made extensive use of existing high-speed rail track in Menghe, Themiclesia, and Dayashina; altogether, over 10,000 kilometers of track (both ways) were already laid by the time construction on the Trans-Hemithea High-Speed Railway began, and only 7,600 kilometers of new track had to be laid - mostly through Nukkumaa, Dzhungestan, and southern Polvokia. All three countries soon signed on to the agreement, drawn by the economic benefits, though some debate remained over how much influence foreign companies would have over the system's construction and operation.

Construction

Surveying for the new additions began in the spring of 2014, with construction set to begin the following year. There were some delays after Menghe's unilateral intervention during the Innominadan Crisis, which destabilized Menghe's relations with the GA, but in the fall of 2015 construction companies associated with the project pressed ahead, lobbying aggressively to avoid a cancellation of the lucrative contract.

Construction of the section in western Dzhungestan posed a number of problems associated with the region's arid terrain and sparse population. Themiclesian engineers expressed skepticism about sand shifting to cover sections of track, and in the end the Themiclesian link to Ancidgüüi was re-routed to avoid the dunes of the Bayankhongor Sand Sea. Work on the Ancidgüüi-Jinjŏng section also slowed after a train derailment in Menghe, and construction plans were revised to include a wider and deeper subgrade. Borrowing from experience in Themiclesia, engineers also planted trees and shrubs on either side of the track to improve root cover in the soil and reduce the blowing of sand. Nevertheless, it is expected that the line will require regular maintenance around switches to prevent accumulated sand and dust from causing derailment.

As of January 2018, construction of the Dzhungestan and Polvokian links is expected to reach completion in 2019, with the first non-test trains opening to the public in 2020.

Routes

File:Trans-Hemithea HSR.png

Map of the Trans-Hemithea High-Speed Railroad. Lines in blue are part of existing networks, or scheduled to be completed before 2018; lines in yellow are new additions included in the THHSR project; and lines in green or purple are proposed additions.

Core route

The core route of the Trans-Hemithea High-Speed Railway, displayed in the upper right, runs from Antla in Nukkumaa to Nakazara in Dayashina. Menghean trains follow a branch route which originates in Sunju and then proceeds to either Nukkumaa or Dayashina, but the Junggyŏng-Sunju section of track is not included in overall figures on the system's length.

Proposed additions

North Menghe

In 2015, Menghe's Northeastern Regional Development Council organized talks about re-routing Menghe's section of the line through the country's north. The new route would have stations in Yŏjin, Gangbuk, and Songrimsŏng, with some proposals adding a station in Myŏngju.

All four of these cities have fallen behind the course of Menghe's economic miracle, and regional planners hoped that a direct connection to the Trans-Hemithea rail project would revitalize the tertiary sector, especially tourism, helping the Northeast move away from heavy industry.

While the resulting route would shave some time off of the Themiclesia-to-Dayashina trip, it would bypass major cities in Menghe's east, including the capital. It would also require a greater amount of new track. For that reason, planners settled on the current main route. The Northeastern Corridor still exists as a proposed detour, however, and in 2017 engineers began preliminary surveys and feasibility assessments for a new high-speed project along the Yŏjin - Gangbuk - Myŏngju - Songrimsŏng route. It remains unclear whether any trains on the THHSR will be re-routed onto this route, or whether it will purely be part of Menghe's domestic high-speed rail network.

Southern Road

Proposed by the Menghean Ministry of Communication and Transportation as early as 2016, the "Southern Road" would extend Menghe's in-progress southwestern high-speed track into the Republic of Innominada, linking to all but two of its major cities. If integrated into the THHSR, it would allow direct travel from Themiclesia and Dayashina to the RoI, an even longer connection than from Themiclesia to Dayashina.

Menghean supporters promoted the Southern Road as a way to revitalize Innominada's economy after the destructive war of 2014-2015. But many private investors, including those in Menghe, balked at the idea, given the lingering instability and threat of war still hanging over the region. As of December 2017, the Southern Road extension remains under consideration, but no work on the rail infrastructure has begun.

Link to the OSC

More recently, there has been some discussion of extending the rail from its current northern point in Antla through Asumus and into the Organized States of Columbia.

Passenger procedures

Customs

Under the earliest proposals, passengers on the Trans-Hemithea High-Speed Railway would have to deal with customs in the same way as passengers on other international passenger trains: on the last station before the border, customs officers would come on board to check passports while en route. This plan was soon deemed overly burdensome, as it would require an individual traveling from Nukkumaa to Dayashima to obtain four transit visas; Menghe and Polvokia both opposed a free trade and travel zone.

Instead, the signatory countries reached an agreement treating the train similar to air travel: passengers would only need to pass through customs at their final destination. In member countries, trains on the THHSR are routed to a special platform with customs gates at the platform exit. Passengers who boarded the train on a station within the same country - for example, those riding from Junggyŏng to Donggyŏng in Menghe - can pass through the green channel with their Citizen ID card and ticket in place of a passport.

Security

Due to concerns about the risk of a terrorist attack, Menghe pressured other member countries to improve their security procedures on the Trans-Hemithea High-Speed Railroad. Initially, this proposal was met with resistance from Themiclesia, where train security has traditionally been relatively light.

After lengthy negotiations, Themiclesia and Dayashina agreed to install new security gates, consisting of metal detector doors for passengers and x-ray/trace portal machines for baggage. Because existing stations would already have to be refurbished or expanded to accommodate customs windows, this was deemed a feasible addition. At Menghean stations, security checkpoints are located at the entrance to the departures floor, while in Themiclesia and Dayashina they are present at the entrance to individual platforms with THHSR service. Nukkumaa, Polvokia, and Dzhungestan have security gates at the station entrance, as all of their trains are on international routes.

Routes

The table below lists all regularly scheduled passenger routes that offer international service on the Trans-Hemithea High-Speed Railway.

Route name	Operating company	Train model	Frequency	Cities served
Antla – Nakazara	Shinkansen		Twice weekly	Antla, Kien-k'ang, Dörözamyn, Junggyŏng, Donggyŏng, Sarantsk, Nakazara
Sunju – Kien-k'ang	MHSRC	MGY-255	Daily	Sunju, Namtong, Dongchŏn, Myŏng'an, Chŏlsŏng, Chŏnjin, Pasŏng, Yŏng'an, Sunyang, Junggyŏng, Jinjŏng, Suhait, Dörözamyn, Kien-k'ang
Donggyŏng – Kien-k'ang	MHSRC	MGY-255	Daily	Donggyŏng, Sokcho, Hwaju, Junggyŏng, Jinjŏng, Suhait, Dörözamyn, Kien-k'ang
Gyŏngsan – Nakazara	MHSRC	MGY-252	Twice Daily	Gyŏngsan, Haeju, Hyangchun, Ranju, Anchŏn, Dongrŭng, Donggyŏng, Chŏngdo, Baekjin, Sarantsk, Yŏkjŏnpyŏng, Iwanara, Hokogata, Shizuna, Masada, Matsuko, Nakazara
Antla – Gob-kri	NR		Daily	Antla, Kärva, Tor, Rim, Kien-k'ang, Gob-kri

Ridership

THHSR provides a much more economical yet equally punctual and reliable service as air travel, and over some of the shorter intermediate routes (Donggyŏng to Nakazara, Junggyŏng to Kien-k'ang) it is competitive with air travel once typical waiting times are taken into account. Some airline companies, especially those operating medium-distance flights from Menghe to Dayashina, complained that high-speed rail competition would cut down on their demand, though others have projected that with the integration of the continental economy, demand for international travel would only increase.

Advocates of the project contend that by offering a cheaper alternative to airline tickets, it will make international travel more affordable and available. The Menghean and Themiclesian governments in particular have touted it as a way of improving cross-cultural exchange through tourism. Some advance studies have also concluded that it will increase travel among businesspeople and foreign-exchange students, thereby improving all signatories' economies in the long term.

See also

• Themiclesian High Speed Rail
• High-speed rail in Menghe