China unveils 'world's fastest train link'
CHINA: China on Saturday unveiled what it billed as the fastest rail
link in the world - a train connecting the modern cities of Guangzhou
and Wuhan at an average speed of 350 kilometres (217 miles) an hour.
On fast track |
* Train
connects cities of Guangzhou and Wuhan
* Average speed of 350 Kmph (217
miles)
* China's current rail network
covers 86,000 Km
* Rail network to be expanded to
120,000 Km
* Work on project began in 2005
|
The super-high-speed train reduces the 1,069 kilometre journey to a
three hour ride and cuts the previous journey time by more than seven
and a half hours, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Work on the project began in 2005 as part of plans to expand a
high-speed network aimed at eventually linking Guangzhou, a business hub
in southern China near Hong Kong, with the capital Beijing, Xinhua
added.
"The train can go 394.2 kilometres per hour, it's the fastest train
in operation in the world," Zhang Shuguang, head of the transport bureau
at the railways ministry, told Xinhua.
Test runs for the service began earlier in December and the link
officially went into service when the first scheduled train left the
eastern metropolis of Wuhan on Saturday.
By comparison, the average for high-speed trains in Japan was 243
kilometres per hour while in France it was 277 kilometres per hour, said
Xu Fangliang, general engineer in charge of designing the link,
according to Xinhua.
Beijing has an ambitious rail development programme aimed at
increasing the national network from the current 86,000 kilometres to
120,000 kilometres, making it the most extensive rail system outside the
United States.
China unveiled its first high-speed line at the time of the Beijing
Olympics in 2008 - a service linking the capital with the port city of
Tianjin.
In September, officials said they planned to build 42 high-speed
lines by 2012 in a massive system overhaul as part of efforts to spur
economic growth amid the global downturn.
The network uses technology developed in co-operation with foreign
firms such as Siemens, Bombardier and Alstom.
Beijing, Sunday, AFP |