Earlier today, with a high speed of 302 miles per hour, a Chinese passenger train set the speed record for commercial trains.
The new record is 40 mph faster than the record China claimed to set in October, when a scheduled passenger train hit the 262 mile per hour mark.
To put that in perspective, you could get from New York to Boston in well under an hour. That beats the hell out of Amtrak...
The feat was accomplished with a CRH380A train during a test run from Beijing to Shanghai, on a link of track that has not been opened up to commercial rail.
According to the AP, that 800-mile line would open as soon as 2012, and could cut the travel time from between those cities in half.
While the United States' rail system has sputtered about with little government support, China's rail system has been constructed with impressive haste. In the past five years, the country has gone from having practically no high speed rail to becoming the world leader.
China has invested almost $33 billion in this project alone, hoping to expand the high speed rail system to link Chinese cities with fast and less crowded transportation.
That price tag has drawn some criticism, mainly that neither the government nor the citizens can afford it...
Since high speed rail can cost up to three times more per ticket, current trains often run at less than half-capacity.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences recently reported to China's state council to convince them to re-evaluate the construction projects.
In any case, it doesn't appear that China is rolling back the ambitious plans anytime soon...
Some estimate that by 2012, they will have more rail than the rest of the world combined.
“It not only marks a milestone in the construction of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, but also is a major achievement of China’s technology innovation,” Wang Yongping, spokesperson of the Ministry of Railways told Xinhua News.
As an American, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't envious of those speeds...
Be Well,
Jimmy
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