Trains and planes - will the twain ever meet?
While the aviation industry looks to integrate airports with the ever-growing high-speed rail network to help boost its competitiveness, various factors from administration to planning mean the idea is a long way from taking flight.
Beijing has been examining integrated transport for over 40 years. The State Council set up a dedicated bureau, the Institute of Comprehensive Transportation (ICT), to study the model in Russia as early as 1959. The study encompassed everything from sea, rail, road and air transport to oil and gas pipelines.
'Back then, the thrust was on inter-modal transport between waterways and railways,' one ICT researcher said.
But it was not until 2007 that the State Council identified the target and strategy for developing integrated transport hubs across the nation. In a paper titled Medium to Long-Term Development Plan for Integrated Transportation, 42 cities were chosen as national hubs for integrated transport while eight cities - Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dalian, Wuhan, Xian and Chengdu - were selected for pilot programmes.
The study, however, did not specifically mention marrying high-speed rail with airports. According to the ICT researcher, the idea has only recently begun to gain traction as more high-speed trains have started operating between Shanghai and Hangzhou, and Guangzhou and Wuhan, posing a real threat to the aviation industry.
