World's longest high-speed rail line opens in China

BEIJING China on Wednesday opened the world's longest high-speed rail line that more than halves the time required to travel from the country's capital in the north to Guangzhou, an economic hub in southern China.

The opening of the 1,428-mile line was commemorated by the 9 a.m. departure of a train from Beijing for Guangzhou. Another train left Guangzhou for Beijing an hour later.

China has massive resources and considerable prestige invested in its showcase high-speed railways program.

But it has in recent months faced high-profile problems: part of a line collapsed in central China after heavy rains in March, while a bullet train crash in the summer of 2011 killed 40 people. The former railway minister, who spearheaded the bullet train's construction, and the ministry's chief engineer, were detained in an unrelated corruption investigation months before the crash.

Trains on the latest high-speed line will initially run at 186 mph with a total travel time of about eight hours. Before, the fastest time between the two cities by train was more than 20 hours.

The line also makes stops in major cities along the way, including provincial capitals Shijiazhuang, Wuhan and Changsha.

More than 150 pairs of high-speed trains will run on the new line every day, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the Ministry of Railways.

Railway is an essential part in China's transportation system, and the government plans to build a grid of high-speed railways with four east-west lines and four north-south lines by 2020.

The opening of the new line brings the total distance covered by China's high-speed railway system to more than 5,800 miles — about half its 2015 target of around 11,000 miles.

[Bush-cheney-R-Terrorists]

Yeah? Well the US rules! We're building a train that's gonna go 110 mph! most of the way to St. Louis from Chicago in a few more years for a several billion dollars! That's almost 297 miles bucko. Oh, they're going 1,428 miles at 187 miles per hour? Nevermind...who wants to go to St. Louis almost fast anyway?

[kevboom]

Sad to see global economic competitors investing so heavily in their infrastructure and people while the U.S. continues to waste borrowed trillions in Afghanistan on a senseless war. We've become the North Korea of the industrialized world. Thanks U.S. Congress for your stellar leadership abilities! We're so proud!

[sallychicago]

I agree. I'm a Obama supporter, but I really feel that had Romney been elected, he would have put high-speed cross country rail on the priority list because he was very impressed with China's rail system. He would have found a way to make it happen. We're falling behind folks....in education and infrastructure....that's one reason why company's are locating overseas.

[vissionquest]

It was the republican party that blocked all funding for high speed rail in this country. Obama tried to make it happen --do not try and re-write history

[USSAmerikan]

LU_PET: Stolen technology, from the US? China has relied on technology transfers from France's Alstom, Germany's Siemens and Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries, to develop its high-speed rail network. American Technology? Nope, when it comes to mass transit, we're still number one at manufacturing planes, but it ends there. We can't even manufacture toy trains here.

[lami987]

China did get a lot of American technology. But they are not stolen. American industries gave those to China by building their manufacturing plants in China. That includes satellite and rocket technologies that was handed over by Reagan when he was having the Chinese launch our satellites.

[myopinionpal]

At 186 mph that would be one heck of a derailment.

[john92021]

maybe they got the extended warrantee at Harbor Freight and get a new one.

[lami987]

With current U.S. technology it would be one heck of a derailment. With more budget and spending cut U.S. would be left in the dust.

[bobnjersey]

[More than 150 pairs of high-speed trains will run on the new line every day]
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so ... there's a train leaving in each direction every ten minutes?

[john92021]

a 372 mph collision.

[geofelen]

The USA... once the leader in technology, education, knowledge, medicine and just about everything in the world fails to lead. Now we pay Russian to launch our Astronauts. Watch China become the world leader in manufacturing and technology. It's really sad.

[bobnjersey]

[The USA... once the leader in technology, education, knowledge, medicine and just about everything in the world fails to lead. Now we pay Russian to launch our Astronauts. Watch China become the world leader in manufacturing and technology. It's really sad.]
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china used to lead in all these categories as well.

the rest of the world is where they are from china's original lead in nearly everything.

[varigdc10]

Yes, this should have been here but it's not because of political games in Washington, states, and counties. Everybody wants a piece of the action ( MONEY ).I live in the most corrupt county in this country ( Cook, Chicago area ), here it took 14 years to built an interchange in a local expressway because of political power play and positioning, this country is lost.

[taxed01]

China spends it's money on infrastructure. We just built some subsidized (welfare)housing in Guerneville California for a little over $404,000 per apartment. To quote SOLORRAY: "Can anyone say clusterf**k?"

[Amoobrasil]

Total traditional welfare (Medicaid, food stamps, and Section 8 housing being the bulk of that welfare) costs us about $69 billion a year. We waste far more on no-bid government contracts, on taxes unpaid by multi-millionaires and billionaires who take fortunes from our economy, merge corporations, eliminate jobs (or outsource them), on deregulated executive benefits, etc.

Do not blame the hungry, the naked, and the infirm for our failure to rejoin civilization. The responsibility lies squarely in the hands of the ruthless plutocracy and its puppets in the GOP.

[Lu_Pet]

Another stolen technology from U.S. China should be ashamed of itself on stealing from its neighbor.

[john92021]

what we need to address is the human need to physically be somewhere else than where we are.

[USSAmerikan]

I rode the Beijing-Shanghai line a couple of weeks ago and it makes any other form of transportation feel archaic by comparison. Near absolute silence, zero turbulence... You might as well be at home in your living room! I would like to believe that if we deployed these low-emission, minimum carbon footprint no-lines-no-waiting trains here it would be the solution to all of our problems, but somehow I feel we'd very likely foul it up because some environmentalist is concerned about some type of butterfly or a rare gopher... I guess I will just have to enjoy the bullet trains in China and in Europe when my trips take me there... Please, nobody bring up the Acela... It is a joke with a really corny punch line!

[venusvegasvada]

Electric trains make more sense looking forward.