China inaugurates fastest train line in the world

**Maciamo** · Dec 27, 2009, 03:18

China has inaugurated today its 9th high-speed railway lines, linking Wuhan and Guangzhou (Canton). It is a particular event because the line has officially become the fastest in the world, with an average speed of 347 km/h, beating the French TGV. The Chinese bullet train borrows its looks from the Japanese shinkansen.

China is planning to open 40 bullet-train lines in the coming years to cope with the increased demand and sustain its growing economy.

The Maglev line in Shanghai is still the world's fastest train, although it is not properly speaking a railway line, but rather an airport transit link.

**Trollhattan** · Dec 27, 2009, 09:12

Originally Posted by Maciamo

China has inaugurated today its 9th high-speed railway lines, linking Wuhan and Guangzhou (Canton).

The Chinese bullet train borrows its looks from the Japanese shinkansen.

China is planning to open 40 bullet-train lines in the coming years to cope with the increased demand and sustain its growing economy.

Japan's Shinkansen has gained popularity in Asia,the Chinese & Koreans should've modeled Japan's modernization over a century ago.

Chinese licenced Japanese tech know-how,right ?

A continental country has vast population with limited natural resources like China should encourage its people to use mass transportation than owning individual automobiles.

**Maciamo** · Dec 27, 2009, 19:58

Originally Posted by Trollhattan

Japan's Shinkansen has gained popularity in Asia,the Chinese & Koreans should've modeled Japan's modernization over a century ago.

Korea was part of Japan from 1895 to 1945. The Korean War in the 1950's slowed down development, which explains why Korea is about 15-20 years behind Japan.

China collapsed into civil war in 1911, then was invaded by Japan, then broke into civil war again in 1945, was unified by the Communist Party in 1949, developed backwards under Mao until his death in 1976, then was only free to modernise itself. This explains why China has a few decades to recover compared to Japan.

Chinese licenced Japanese tech know-how,right ?

No, actually Chinese bullet trains are made by European and Japanese companies. The CRH2 is Japanese, built by Kawasaki Industries. However, the CRH3 was manufactured by Siemens (Germany), and the CRH5 by Alstom (France). The new Wuhan-Guangzhou line combines the technologies of the CRH2 and CRH3.

A continental country has vast population with limited natural resources like China should encourage its people to use mass transportation than owning individual automobiles.

What makes you think that China has little natural resources ? Western China is very rich in petrol and metals. Bullet trains will only be used by a fraction of the population (it is expensive) and replaces air planes more than cars.