China unveils $32 b train capable of travelling 300km/h

China: JUST outside Beijing, with the speedometer already at 278km/h, the driver's white-gloved hand shifts imperceptibly forward on the throttle.

China's newest toy, the 1318km Beijing to Shanghai bullet train, is suddenly scything through the countryside at 315km/h.

In four days' time the country's longest high-speed railway is to open to the public, a spectacle timed to bathe the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party in images of technological triumph and highlight the ambitions of an emerging superpower. As taxpayers might expect from a project that cost $32 billion - the elevated track that stretches from horizon to horizon cost pounds 16,000 a metre - the new electrified line is impressive. High-speed railways have been built across the country but this is the most symbolic.

Tuesday, Sky News