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SCMP

This article was first published on July 1, 2011
Plane beats train, but winning isn’t everything
by Will Clem, Shi Jiangtao
Two South China Morning Post reporters yesterday pitted the new high-speed Shanghai–to–Beijing train against an airliner and discovered that although taking to the skies had the edge for speed, rail won out for comfort and convenience.
They set off from the SCMP’s Shanghai bureau at 2.34pm, taking separate taxis for Hongqiao International Airport and the adjacent railway station.
Will Clem was booked on the 4pm bullet train to Beijing; his colleague Shi Jiangtao on an Air China shuttle scheduled to take off 55 minutes later because of the longer check-in time required for air travel.
It was hardly the Amazing Race. Barring a significant delay, the 2½-hour flight was virtually guaranteed to arrive ahead of the train, scheduled to make the journey in just shy of five hours.

Still, why let almost certain defeat get in the way of a trip on the world’s longest high-speed train route?
At the doors to the shiny, one-year-old railway station - just as Jiangtao was unsuccessfully trying to change his booking to an earlier flight - I needed to pass through a farcical parody of an airport security check. Passengers lined up and placed their bags into an X-ray scanner and walked through a magnetic gate, but security guards barely noticed.
High-speed rail passengers need to present a copy of their identity card or passport to buy a ticket, but at no point did anyone check if the people travelling were the ones who had bought the tickets. We scanned our tickets at an automatic gate and descended from the waiting hall to the platform where our sleek, eight-carriage train awaited.
It rolled out of Shanghai a minute ahead of schedule. Seven minutes later, with the train already travelling at just over 200km/h, the acceleration really started to kick in.

“We’re going to start flying,” squealed four-year-old Zhou Chen, jumping on his grandfather’s knee, unable to contain his excitement at setting out on his first trip to the capital. “Will we be there soon?”
It takes just 90 seconds for the speedometer, displayed above the doors, to clock 299km/h, but then frustratingly drop back to 297km/h.
“It doesn’t even go over 300,” said one middle-aged traveller heading for Nanjing , one of just two stops the train was to make on its way to Beijing South Station. “All that talk of 350km/h and world records of over 480 was just bluster. I don’t believe a word of it.”
At 4.25pm, a light murmur of appreciation washed through the carriage as the train finally broke the 300km/h barrier. For most of the rest of the journey the train cruised at a steady pace of up to 308km/h, but by then most people were watching the countryside.
Back at the airport, Jiangtao was just getting on his aircraft, an hour after he made it through his more stringent security check. He didn’t leave the ground until 5.18pm.
About two hours into my journey, the train suddenly shifted on its axis slightly and our ears popped due to a sudden drop in air pressure as another train hurtled past - the first southbound train, which had left Beijing South Station at 3pm. That train was carrying Premier Wen Jiabao.

Just before 7pm, as the train weaved its way swiftly through a mountainous area south of Jinan, my mobile phone buzzed. Jiangtao had landed, a quarter of an hour early. Almost two hours of travel still to go and I had lost already.
In the end, it took him more than half an hour to get through the airport, including a trip on a shuttle bus. It was 7.35pm before he even got into a taxi, and he eventually arrived at our Beijing office at 8.09pm.
Precisely 42 minutes afterwards, my train drew to a halt at Beijing South, four minutes ahead of schedule. Despite a technical glitch at the exit turnstiles, I was inside a taxi just 10 minutes later and arrived at the office at 9.24pm.
I had been beaten by an hour and a quarter - but had spent just 651 yuan (HK$783), including taxis. Jiangtao’s trip cost more than twice as much - 1,448 yuan.
What’s more, I had been able to travel in far greater comfort. Even the cheap seats on the train had considerably more generous leg room than airline cattle class.


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A train driver sits in a new high-speed train before it departs from the Beijing-South railway station for Shanghai as part of an official trip for members of the media June 27, 2011. Photo: Reuters

A new high-speed train is pictured before it departs from the Beijing-South railway station for Shanghai. Photo: Reuters

The first commercial bullet train set off from Beijing South Railway Station on June 30, 2011. Photo: Xinhua

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (right) talks to passengers and journalists on the first commercial bullet train on the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, June 30, 2011. Photo: Xinhua

When Hong Kong hosted its first International Film Festival in 1977 – SCMP archive

(From right) Arnaldo de Oliveira Sales, Chairman of the Urban Council; Mrs Sales; and Sir Run Run Shaw of the Shaw Brothers sharing a joke at the opening of the first Hong Kong International Film Festival on June 27, 1977. Photo: C.Y Yu

A clipping from SCMP’s June 26, 1977 issue showing the film festival had sold out. Photo: SCMP

Movie magnate Sir Run Run Shaw (left) introduces film director Li Han-hsiang (centre) to Arnaldo de Oliveira Sales (second right), Chairman of the Urban Council, at the opening of the first Hong Kong International Film Festival. Mr Li’s film. Photo: C.Y Yu

Hong Kong’s Tiu Keng Leng residents win landmark case in 1996 – SCMP archive

Rennie’s Mill residents celebrate outside the High Court after winning the court case on Jun 27, 1996. Photo: Robert Ng

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A clipping from SCMP’s June 28, 1996 issue. Photo: SCMP

Justice Raymond Sears (centre) and other government staff touring Tiu Keng Leng because they heard that the residents protested against the government’s decision to clear the area for redevelopment. Photo: SCMP

Hong Kong declared Sars-free in 2003 – SCMP archive

Large-scale cleaning at Telford Gardens in Kowloon Bay on April 11, 2003. Photo: Martin Chan

S.K.H. St. Peter’s Primary School students in Shek Tong Tsui prepare to take off their face masks after the World Health Organization announced the removal of Hong Kong from a list of Sars-affected areas. June 23, 2003. Photo: Oliver Tsang

The front page of SCMP’s June 24, 2003 issue. Photo: SCMP

Tung Chee-hwa, the chief executive at the time, wearing a mask for the first time in public during a visit to Tai Po as part of a citywide clean-up campaign to halt the spread of Sars. April 19, 2003. Photo: David Wong

An almost-empty Hong Kong International Airport during the Sars outbreak. April 12, 2003. Photo: Oliver Tsang

News

China

The landmark Shanghai–to–Beijing rail link marks a new era for Chinese transit


The landmark Shanghai–to–Beijing rail link marks a new era for Chinese transit.


Hong Kong

Shanghai

Wen Jiabao

Air China

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The landmark Shanghai–to–Beijing rail link marks a new era for Chinese transit

Plane beats train, but winning isn’t everything

The landmark Shanghai–to–Beijing rail link marks a new era for Chinese transit