Why China Can Build High-speed Rail So Cheaply為何中國(guó)高鐵成本如此之低？

羅德·斯威特

In under a decade， China has built a high-speed rail network totalling more than 10，000km. It eclipses1 every other country’s high-speed network and even that of the entire European Union. Not only that， to build it China spent two-thirds or less what other countries have spent.

According to a World Bank paper published in 2014， site work and right-of-way2 costs in litigious3 California are around $10m/km， or 17.6% of the total cost， while in China land acquisition and resettlement costs are below 8% of project cost.

But other reasons may be more interesting both to the developed world and to regions like Africa that are sorely in need of transformative infrastructure.

For one thing， the sheer scale of China’s rail programme and the state’s firm commitment to it unleashed the country’s technical and manufacturing capabilities. Assured of very high volumes， companies and state institutions ramped up4 capacity quickly and invested in innovative techniques.

“This，” writes Gerald Ollivier， a World Bank senior transport specialist and paper co-author， “has led to lower unit costs as a result of the development of competitive multiple local sources for construction （earthworks， bridges， tunnels， EMU5 trains etc.） that adopted mechanization in construction and manufacturing.

“Further， large volumes and the ability to amortize6 capital investment in high-cost construction equipment over a number of projects contributed to the lowering of unit costs.”

The Chinese government also has the clout7 to standardise designs—for embankments， track， viaducts， electrification， signalling and communication systems—which cuts cost and duplication of effort.

It also standardised construction techniques. China built a lot of viaducts to save scarce farmland or to leap over rivers and， even though they are expensive to build， the cost was kept down by standardising the design and manufacture of viaduct bridge beams.

Their span is standardised at either 24m or 32m and they are cast in temporary factories set up along the railway alignment8. Each beam is transported no more than 8km by a specially-designed vehicle with up to 18 axles.

It was China’s handling of tunnels， however， that most impressed the paper’s authors. They noted that the Chinese system for tunnel construction resulted in a unit cost of $10m to $15m per kilometre， a fraction of9 what it costs New Zealand （$43m）， the US （$50m）， and Australia （$60m）. The system allowed China to tunnel fast， as well， at a rate of five to 10 metres per day.

It’s little wonder， given its remarkable high-speed rail feat， that China is exporting its rail construction expertise all over the world， especially to Africa， and is even keen to help build the UK’s first significant high-speed rail network， dubbed HS2.

不到10年的時(shí)間，中國(guó)已建造了總里程超過(guò)1萬(wàn)公里的高速鐵路網(wǎng)，超過(guò)了其他任何國(guó)家的高鐵網(wǎng)絡(luò)，甚至比全歐盟的都要長(zhǎng)。不僅如此，中國(guó)建造高鐵的成本相當(dāng)于其他國(guó)家的三分之二，甚至還要少。

根據(jù)世界銀行2014年的一份報(bào)告，在官司比較多的美國(guó)加利福尼亞州，花在場(chǎng)地勞務(wù)和購(gòu)買路權(quán)上的開(kāi)支每公里達(dá)1000萬(wàn)美元，相當(dāng)于總開(kāi)支的17.6%。而中國(guó)花在購(gòu)買土地和重新安置上的費(fèi)用還不到總支出的8%。

但是對(duì)于發(fā)達(dá)國(guó)家以及像非洲這樣急需大力改善基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的地區(qū)來(lái)說(shuō)，其他原因可能更值得玩味。

其中有這樣一個(gè)原因：中國(guó)光是依靠鐵路建設(shè)規(guī)劃的規(guī)模以及致力于實(shí)施這一規(guī)劃的決心，就讓這個(gè)國(guó)家在技術(shù)和制造業(yè)上的潛能充分發(fā)揮了出來(lái)。相關(guān)公司和國(guó)家機(jī)構(gòu)相信建設(shè)體量會(huì)非常大，因而迅速提升自身生產(chǎn)能力，加大對(duì)革新技術(shù)的投入。

杰拉德·奧利維爾是世界銀行資深運(yùn)輸專家，也是上述世界銀行報(bào)告的作者之一。他這樣寫(xiě)道：“這種做法降低了單位開(kāi)支，因?yàn)檫@樣做培育了具有競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力的各個(gè)本地工程建設(shè)部門（如土建、橋梁、隧道、電力動(dòng)車組等），在建設(shè)和制造上都實(shí)現(xiàn)了機(jī)械化。”

“再者，工程量巨大，加上昂貴的設(shè)施用于多項(xiàng)建設(shè)工程，也就有了分?jǐn)傎Y金投入的能力，單位支出也由此降低?！?/p>

中國(guó)政府還可以影響以下方面的設(shè)計(jì)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化：路堤、軌道、高架橋、電氣化、信號(hào)和通信系統(tǒng)，節(jié)省開(kāi)支的同時(shí)又能事半功倍。

工程技術(shù)也實(shí)現(xiàn)了標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化。中國(guó)建造了很多高架橋梁以節(jié)省稀缺的耕地或跨越河流。盡管高架橋建造成本很高，但是由于橋梁的設(shè)計(jì)和建造都實(shí)現(xiàn)了標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化，費(fèi)用也就降低了。

高架橋的墩距標(biāo)準(zhǔn)有24米和32米兩種，都是鐵路沿線臨時(shí)設(shè)立的工廠澆筑的。每座橋梁的運(yùn)輸距離不超過(guò)8公里，運(yùn)輸用的車輛是專門設(shè)計(jì)的，每個(gè)車輪的車軸有18個(gè)之多。

其實(shí)，令報(bào)告作者印象最深的還是中國(guó)的隧道建設(shè)。他們注意到，中國(guó)的隧道建設(shè)體系的單位支出只有每公里1000萬(wàn)到1500萬(wàn)美元，遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)低于新西蘭的4300萬(wàn)美元、美國(guó)的5000萬(wàn)美元和澳大利亞的6000萬(wàn)美元。這種體系也使得中國(guó)能夠快速開(kāi)掘隧道，速度是每天5到10米。

中國(guó)擁有建設(shè)高鐵的非凡成就，向全世界尤其是非洲出口其高鐵技術(shù)，甚至還積極幫助建設(shè)英國(guó)首條重要的高速鐵路線HS2，也就不足為怪了。

（譯者單位：上海交通大學(xué)）