Korea's high-speed rail officially begins operation in Uzbekistan, a doubly landlocked country in Central Asia
South Korean media: [Everything Connected] KTX (Korean High-Speed Train) Races Along the Silk Road
In 1964, Japan’s Shinkansen, launched just before the Tokyo Olympics, marked the beginning of high-speed rail. At the time, the Shinkansen, capable of speeds up to 210 km/h, was hailed as the “Dream Train.” Subsequently, France’s TGV and Germany’s ICE entered the race for maximum speed, elevating high-speed rail technology into one of the key benchmarks for assessing a nation’s mechanical engineering prowess. In 2004, South Korea became the fifth country globally to launch high-speed rail—but the trains were purchased from France’s TGV.
¬ But soon after, South Korea emerged as the fourth country in the world with indigenous high-speed rail manufacturing capabilities. Recently, domestically produced KTX—South Korea’s homegrown high-speed train—has officially commenced commercial operations on a 1,020-kilometer route in Uzbekistan. This marks the first instance of a high-speed train manufactured using Korean technology operating overseas, and it represents the culmination of a 30-year journey since the launch of South Korea’s domestic high-speed rail development program in 1996.
¬ The global high-speed rail vehicle market is essentially a battleground among technological powerhouses. From extreme cold below -40°C to scorching desert heat reaching +40°C, China’s state-owned CRRC (CRRC Corporation Limited) has accumulated extensive operational experience across diverse extreme terrains, firmly securing 55% of the global high-speed rail vehicle market share. Following closely are French Alstom, which absorbed Bombardier, and Germany’s Siemens. China leverages its substantial capital to expand into markets by helping Africa and other regions build railway networks; meanwhile, South Korea, Europe, and Japan compete by customizing optimal high-speed train vehicles and systems for existing rail lines.
¬ South Korea’s main competitors in this bid were China’s CRRC and Spain’s Talgo. The decisive factor was technology transfer. Talgo’s technology is highly closed-off—train malfunctions often require shipping the entire car back to Spain for repairs. In contrast, Hyundai Rotem and KORAIL formed a joint team and played their trump card: transferring maintenance technology. Notably, the “distributed traction” technology—integrating motors into each carriage to achieve optimal acceleration and deceleration performance—was developed specifically to handle South Korea’s mountainous terrain with numerous steep gradients. This contract thus represents a bundled export of Hyundai Rotem’s manufacturing technology, KORAIL’s operational expertise, and a network of over 600 component suppliers—the creation of a complete “K-Rail ecosystem”—making it profoundly significant.
¬ High-speed rail exports go beyond mere hardware; they also encompass software such as maintenance and operational systems. Supplying trains means that parts supply and maintenance infrastructure must be tied to Korean technology for decades to come. With only 10% of the carbon emissions of airplanes, high-speed rail has become a core strategic industry in the era of decarbonization. The global market is expected to grow to approximately 31.6 trillion won (around RMB 145.87 billion) by 2026, and there is great hope that Korea’s KTX will rise to become a new international standard.
Source: Chosun Ilbo
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1864865303870536/
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