China Unveils World's Fastest High Speed Train (VIDEO)

BEIJING — A Chinese passenger train hit a record speed of 302 miles per hour (486 kilometers per hour) Friday during a test run of a yet-to-be opened link between Beijing and Shanghai, state media said. (Scroll down for video.)

The Xinhua News Agency said it was the fastest speed recorded by an unmodified conventional commercial train. Other types of trains in other countries have traveled faster.

A specially modified French TGV train reached 357.2 mph (574.8 kph) during a 2007 test, while a Japanese magnetically levitated train sped to 361 mph (581 kph) in 2003.

State television footage showed the sleek white train whipping past green farm fields in eastern China. It reached the top speed on a segment of the 824-mile (1,318-kilometer) -long line between Zaozhuang city in Shandong province and Bengbu city in Anhui province, Xinhua said.

The line is due to open in 2012 and will halve the current travel time between the capital Beijing and Shanghai to five hours.

The project costs $32.5 billion and is part of a massive government effort to link many of China's cities by high-speed rail and reduce overcrowding on heavily used lines.

China already has the world's longest high-speed rail network, and it plans to cover 8,125 miles (13,000 kilometers) by 2012 and 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) by 2020.

The drive to develop high-speed rail technology rivals China's space program in terms of national pride and importance. Railway officials say they want to reach speeds over 500 kph (312 mph).

Comments

[xaviapril]

11:53 PM on 12/13/2010

damn American Fellows never know that
this hi-speed train use electrisity power instead of oil .

that's the key point ,

50 years later ,while the whole world used up the crude oil .

US piiiigs, welcome to fly to China with kites.

[studmoose]

01:45 PM on 12/07/2010

U.S.A.!  U.S.A.!

We're #37! We're #37!

[jcko]

07:11 PM on 12/07/2010

We have a new $ 35,000.00 smart gun.

We're #1 We're # 1

[studmoose]

08:27 PM on 12/07/2010

With spare parts and cost overruns, it'll be more like $80,000 each.

[Daw8it]

01:35 AM on 12/08/2010

A smart gun? We got the money from China because they are building there infrastructure. All we do is make guns and complain about losing them.

[mike72]

12:27 AM on 12/08/2010

We are the only country that can print money and mandate all mineral resources (oil included) and food resources MUST be traded in international market using nothing but US Dollars.

Our wealth is limitless. As long as there is oil and food being produced, we are generating money. And the rest of the world will have no choice but to keep shipping resources and labor (in the form of finished products) to our shore in exchange for US Dollars so they can trade for oil and food in international market.

We are #1!

[studmoose]

10:44 AM on 12/08/2010

Keep fantasizing about us being a great power anymore. We are being passed by China & Russia whilke we sit back on out laurels like Great Britain did back in the 60's and 70's. Look where they are now - hitting the pubs reminiscing how they were one a great power.

We are like that relative who buys the big house, fancy cars, remodels their kitchen with nothing but the best, buys fancy clothes, goes on fancy trips... then one day they declare bankruptcy - after they secretly  borrowed from every other family member. Then, everyone gets stuck with their 'living the high life'.

We are in the 30's in education, infrastructure, in the 20's in health, in the 20's in poverty... we aren't #1 in anything... except delus.ional war-mongering.

[TexasDem0]

01:41 PM on 12/07/2010

The headline SHOULD have been “USA High Speed Train Breaks World Speed Record” but we don’t want to waste money on infrastructure when it can be applied to tax breaks for billionaires.

Maybe we corporate serfs should all incorporate and get an offshore mailbox so we can evade paying our fair share too. Unfortunately, I was cursed with a conscience that won’t let me do that.

[xtiangodloki]

10:13 AM on 12/07/2010

Americans should take notice: This is how you generate jobs.

Building infrastructures such as this will not only allow people to go from places to places faster, but also reduce the cost of shipping items and increase efficiency within the system. For a country with more than a billion people this sort of technology is a must have if it wants to maintain its growth. More importantly though, it generates jobs.

Contrast that with the state of US today. Big companies are making record profits, yet that money is not trickling down, because companies are afraid to invest in the declining US economy. This is where the government must step in and generate the jobs, because private companies won't.

[slash77]

12:52 AM on 12/07/2010

Take notes….. as the infrastructure within the U.S. continues to deteriorate and become antiquated. China has spent their last nine years improving their economy pushing Japan to second, their military and their world standing……..

I believe the Republicans admonished President Obama when he spoke of infrastructure within the U.S. as a key to our continue economic growth and development.

All we have in nine years is the TSA and body scans!!!!!

[TexasDem0]

01:46 PM on 12/07/2010

The body scans are a clear violation of The Fourth Amendment, are not effective, and were not established by any due process of law. On the other hand, they are an invasive, time consuming, obnoxious overreach by the TSA.

We sure showed the world what we can do.

[BillKen]

12:13 AM on 12/07/2010

China is building a multi-billion $ hi-speed train system and we'er throwing billions down
a big black hole called Afghanistan. The Chinese can use our fifty billion dollar interest
payments to build their countries transportation system while ours slips into oblivion.
Different priorities, China is trying to build a better tomorrow and we're trying to kill or
conquer in a country that is just about as close to the stone age as you can get without being
there. Absolutely Disgusting!!!! Semper Fi

[jcko]

07:15 PM on 12/07/2010

Bombing Afganistan keeps us safe.

Riding high speed rail made in China is dangerous.

No contest, bomb Afganistan.

[Caymus77]

10:59 PM on 12/06/2010

It's so comforting that our trade deficit is allowing China to become a superpower that produces the fastest trains AND supercomputers.

[StansDad]

12:05 PM on 12/07/2010

relax, we're rolling out a super computer that should be around 4 to 5 times faster than the one china built using our tech and designs sometime next year. Don't be too fooled by china's massive government work projects, they are there to hide a lot of things that are being overlooked. Like their massive supply bubble

[Enigma2008]

02:36 PM on 12/06/2010

On "Amazing Race" I just got a peek at the ultra-modern Hong Kong airport. The rest of the world is leaving the US in the dust with bullet trains, public transport in cities, national rail systems, state of the art terminals for air and rail, shuttles and busses while Greyhound is dying and our rail beds have been abandoned or converted to bike trails (needed but not at the expense of trains). What will it take to finally shake up the America-firsters? We are not first and will soon be worst if we don't move into the modern world---I think that's called progress(ive).

[jcko]

07:17 PM on 12/07/2010

Vote for Palin?

[AlexABC]

01:47 PM on 12/06/2010

Congrats I suppose, on making exact copies of French/foreign technology and spinning it off as "innovation."

[MSROADKILL612]

12:00 PM on 12/06/2010

Oh yeah, I meant to mention that I think an important part of Chinas strategy is to not be beholden to Boeing and Airbus.

Think of the foreign exchange saved if hundreds of millions of travelers can be diverted from western air travel technology to locally reproduceable HSR technology. My guess is, if u knocked up a realistic, nationalistic, spreadsheet, the numbers would look pretty good.

[AlexABC]

01:58 PM on 12/06/2010

Only a nation so obsessed with the dominance of the state sector would fear "being beholden" to private companies that literally sell to everyone.

In any case, I think most of your posts here miss some key points.

1. What is the value return on high-speed rail in China? By and large, these projects have been financed by debt. They are still unaffordable to many passengers, which jeopardizes the revenue stream needed to service the debt. We may end up getting a bailout of the rail industry.
2. What is the practicality of high-speed rail in China? High-speed rail has succeeded economically only in countries with small geographic areas and wealthy populations. Wealthy workers who live relatively close to industrial/commercial centers can contribute significant output gains if their commute is reduced by even a small amount of time. This is the reality in France, Germany, Spain, and Japan. By contrast, China is a gigantic country in which the average person takes home a few thousand USD per annum; the gain in lost time provided by rail is not only diluted by China's geographic size, but minimized by the low productivity/output of workers.
3. Accordingly, the call for identical projects in the US is premature. High-speed rail in the US would do very little to reduce traffic burdens, and as in China, it would have to straddle a vast geographic area (the US is even larger than China) that seems unsuited to high-speed rail.

[Enigma2008]

02:47 PM on 12/06/2010

Things may be changing. I have driven a 1,800 round trip seven times in a year because of an increasing frustration with flying after a career on planes. I would take a fast train in a heartbest if it were available. My greatest pleasure in travelling in Europe is the available of rail. Airports in the major destinations are severely overcrowded and the stress on equipment and crews makes that choice less desirable. There is no place left to put roads in urban areas. I believe that a network for regional rail travel with connections to specific cross country or north/south long lines would be preferable for much of the public. Unless we all get personal jet packs what is the alternative?

[MSROADKILL612]

11:37 AM on 12/06/2010

cONTINUED FRO PREV POST: Sorry for delay

If the US is productive enough to lace the country w/ 16 lane interstates, surely they can also build elavated 2 lane non electrified rail conduits down the median strip. There is your right of way right there. China can force a right of way but so can the US, they pre exist. The state simply has to forcefully buy back what should never have been sold in the first place.

No mention of freight anywhere. The Chines equivalents of UPS, FED EX, DHL ... must be salivating. Similar ETAs to air freight, but weight is no big deal. I can see the modern version of the parcel carriage (jetliner type freight containers forklifted on and off in a race with passengers) enjoying a resurgence.

Just an off the wall suggestion, but are not the two biggest and most connected conurbations in your region - Mexico City & LA - with stops like houston & san diego en route?

[Enigma2008]

02:50 PM on 12/06/2010

Good ideas. Much to think about.

[MSROADKILL612]

10:12 AM on 12/06/2010

Atypically, I thought I might try and introduce some fresh ideas to the debate.

The killer advantage HSR has over flying in most of the world, is that it takes you from the CBD of one city with a metro rail network, to the CBD of another city, also with a metro.

Sadly few US cities can boast a decent metro. My point being, maybe the US needs to crawl before it can run. It seems incredible a city as big as LA has no metro? - not sure.

Time in the air means nothing. Reliability, comfort, sleep and shower possibilities, productivity en route (conference cabins?), stress and actual point to point times all have to be factored in.

On a bright note, being an early adopter in hi tek isnt all good. The US had crap TV an cell phones for ages as a result of this.

I believe it can be done on the cheap.

1/ Forget overhead electrification. It is an ongoingly expensive hassle (crucially, meter smaller tunnels are possible for example).

There is no economic substitute for providing power in situ, via hydrocarbons for long distance transport. Use plentiful, green and cheap natural gas by all means.

// So - u use an existing electric trainset & tack on a loco which is a mini power station.
Maybe later they will devise a politically acceptably safe system of getting power from the rails. I cant see why its so hard. Raised track?

Out of space -

[Kreskytim]

09:58 AM on 12/06/2010

Maybe we can get some foreign aid from China and they can help us build a train?

[wwoody]

01:27 PM on 12/06/2010

We already own them.

[CologneCitizen]

04:50 AM on 12/06/2010

You still have the ALCALA EXPRESS. I took this train a few years ago from NYC to DC. At some point there was an Amish buggy and horse on the road next to the rails. It looked it would fly past us, but the train won.

[mike72]

11:41 PM on 12/06/2010

There we go. American high tech at work. Poor buddy has no chance! Cheer and beer! We are good.

[eva-eva]

01:31 PM on 12/12/2010

hehehe

[DanSc]

02:47 AM on 12/06/2010

The USSR was also the first to put something into space. Doesn't mean they were first to the moon. And any word on if the collective farmers or the coal miners will be able to ride?

[mike72]

11:41 PM on 12/06/2010

The moon ... sigh ... the moon ...