China launched the world's fastest railway

During the time when high-speed rail lines in the UK were being shut down due to snow and ice, China gave the world's highest speed railway route on the coldest days of the year.

After days of cancellation of the Eurostar railroads in the UK, thousands of people were trapped, China's new rail system opened at an average speed of 345 km / h.

Surprisingly, this system only takes 4 years to build. The super-high-speed rail system reduces the travel time on this 1,000-kilometer long road to three hours, down 7.5 hours from before.

Passengers are boarding a super high-speed train from Wuhan to Guangzhou

This railway system began to be built in 2005, part of a plan to build a high-speed traffic system linking Beijing with Guangzhou, a new economic center located in southern China, close to Hong Kong. .

Test runs were made in early December and the first official train took place on December 26 from Wuhan City.

Mr. Zhang Shuguangm, Director of Transportation of China Railways , said: "The maximum speed of these ships is 394 km / h, and it is currently the highest speed railway in the world".

For comparison, Xu Fangliang, chief engineer of the railway system, said: "Japanese high-speed trains only have an average speed of 241 km / h, and in France it is 277 km / h".

China plans to expand the railway network to promote economic development

China is making an ambitious plan to raise the national railway network from 86,000 km to 120,000 km, becoming the world's largest railway system. China has inaugurated the first high-speed rail line into the 2008 Beijing Olympics, linking Beijing with Tianjin City.

In September 2009, China announced it was planning to complete 42 high-speed rail lines before 2012, among efforts to boost economic development during the recession period.

These high-speed trains have many advantages over aircraft:
Convenient, punctual and safer

The high-speed rail system was completed in collaboration with Siemens, Bombardier and Alstom. The high-speed rail line is priced at $ 113 for first-class seats, while second-class rail for $ 72.

The railroad will be a major competitor for airlines. Si Xianmin, director of China Southern Airlines, China's largest domestic airline, said: "High-speed rail has three advantages over air: more convenient, more accurate and safer times. It has "From now on, 38/160 China Southern Airlines' domestic routes will compete with high-speed rail lines . "

Hundreds of passengers waited on the first high-speed train.

The next railway connecting between Wuhan and Hefei, Anhui Province will start operating from April 1, 2010. In order to compete again, China Southern Airlines reduced almost half the price of Wuhan - Guangzhou flights and signed an agreement with Wuhan and Changsha airports to prioritize flights to Guangzhou properly. hours.

A worker walks between two locomotives at a place where a super high-speed train is built

Professor Zhao Jian, from Jiaotong University in Beijing, said: "If railroads repeat the policy of transferring cheap train tickets to slower trains as they did when opening the Beijing High Speed ​​Railway - Tianjin last year had an airline that could win, but whoever wins, the customers are the final winners. "