29 December 2009

China lays claim to world's fastest train

BEIJING - China has unveiled what it billed as the fastest rail link in the world - a train connecting the cities of Guangzhou and Wuhan at an average speed of 350 kilometres (217 miles) an hour.

The super-high-speed train reduces the 1,069 km 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 the business hub of Guangzhou with the capital Beijing, Xinhua added.

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 last 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.

AFP reports that Beijing has an ambitious rail development programme aimed at increasing the national network from the current 86,000 km to 120,000 km, making it the most extensive rail system outside the United States.