W Post
World’s longest high-speed rail line opens connecting Beijing with
southern China
Associated Press,
Dec 26, 2012 10:03 PM ESTAP
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/worlds-longest-high-speed-rail-line-opens-in-china/2012/12/25/9f01b354-4f10-11e2-8
35b-02f92c0daa43_story.html?hpid=z3#license-9f01b354-4f10-11e2-835b-02f92c0d
aa43) Published: December 25 , 2012
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 2,298 kilometer (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 300 kph (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 9,300 km (5,800 miles) — about half
its 2015 target of 18,000 km.
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