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Sarah Zheng

China will soon start official operation of the world’s fastest train service, knocking an hour off the 1,318km journey between Beijing and Shanghai.
Seven pairs of bullet trains – named Fuxing, which means rejuvenation – will soon start operating, Thepaper.cn, a government-controlled news website, reported on Sunday. National rejuvenation is a slogan promoted by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Beijing-Shanghai line will start on September 21, while operation in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area starts on Monday, state media CGTN reported.
China’s bullet trains in race to win global high-speed rail market
At present, the fastest trains in China, which have their top speed capped at 300km/h, are named Hexie, or Harmony, a key slogan for Xi’s predecessor Hu Jintao.
China had briefly tried a maximum speed of 350km/h, but a deadly train crash in Wenzhou, Zhejiang province, in 2011 forced the railway authority to reduce the upper limit.
However, the desire to up the speed on the world’s most extensive high-speed network remained strong as the country tried to stay ahead of Japan, Germany and France in a technological race.


China’s bullet trains and railways are now a key product for Beijing to sell to other countries, especially under the “Belt and Road Initiative”.
The Beijing-Shanghai route is one of the most used lines, with around 600 million passengers using the service a year since it opened in 2011, according to China Railway, the state-owned operator.
The line is also one of the most profitable in China. China Railway has not released financial data for specific lines, but a bond issuance prospectus last year said the corporate entity running the line made a profit of 6.6 billion yuan in 2015, or about US$1 billion.




According to the current train schedule, the fastest bullet train running between the cities takes four hours and 55 minutes, and most bullet trains take around 5½ hours. A one-way ticket costs 553 yuan (US$83) for a regular seat and 933 yuan for a first-class seat.
China says its bullet train technology was stolen, days after US trade probe move
It is not known whether China Railway will raise ticket prices after the speed is increased.
Authorities tested the 350 km/h services on some parts of the line last month and the results convinced officials they would be able to run at higher speeds along the whole line.
According to Xinhua, the trains are capable of going even faster and have a maximum speed of 400km/h.

Zhao Jian, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University and a leading researcher on the country’s high-speed railway network, told the South China Morning Post that the higher speeds could increase the risk of collisions, so to avoid accidents the railway operator would have to reduce the number of trains on the line.
China’s bullet trains have developed rapidly over the past decade since the opening of a service between Beijing and Tianjin in 2008.
By last year there was about 22,000km of high-speed line, or about two-thirds of the world’s total.
The central government now plans to boost that to 30,000km by 2020.



China to rev up bullet train revolution with world’s fastest service on Shanghai-Beijing line

The Fuxing trains will travel at 350km/h but have a top speed of 400km/h. Photo: Xinhua

(170626) -- SHANGHAI, June 26, 2017 (Xinhua) -- A staff drives "Fuxing" G124 train which leaves from Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station for Beijing, east of China, June 26, 2017. China's next generation bullet train "Fuxing" debuted on the Beijing-Shanghai line on Monday. A CR400AF model departed Beijing South Railway Station at 11:05 a.m. for Shanghai. At the same time, the CR400BF model left Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station for Beijing. The new bullet trains, also known as electric multiple units (EMU), boast top speeds of 400 kilometers an hour and a consistent speed of 350 kilometers an hour. (Xinhua/Ding Ting)(wsw)

A high-speed bullet train linking Baoji and Lanzhou is pictured during a test run in Shaanxi province, China, May 16, 2017. Picture taken May 16, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA.

China says its bullet train technology was stolen, days after US trade probe move

The high-speed railway connecting Hefei and Fuzhou in eastern China covers more than 800km in about four hours. Photo: Xinhua

This photo taken on May 5, 2017 shows workers cleaning a high-speed train at a maintenance and cleaning center for China's high speed rail network, in Chongqing, southwest China. A team of 13 workers clean up to twenty trains per day at the center, starting from 4am each day. China has been on a high-speed rail building spree for over a decade, putting up over 17,000 kilometres (10,500 miles) of track. / AFP PHOTO / STR / China OUT

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New generation of trains named after Xi’s favoured slogan will travel at speeds of 350km/h when they go into service next month
