Test Runs Start On Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Line

High-speed trains have started test runs on the Beijing-Shanghai line, China’s busiest rail link. The picture above shows the first CRH train heading out of Shanghai. Journey time between the two cities will be reduced to five hours from 10, with the trains running at 300 kilometers per hour, slower than the originally intended 380 kilometers per hour following the railways ministry’s cost saving directive to lower speeds across the high-speed network. That will add an hour to the new journey time; it was originally intended to cut it to four hours. The cost has gone in the other direction: 221 billion yuan ($34 billion) against an original budget of 80 billion yuan. Regular service on what is the world’s longest high-speed line at 1,318 kilometers is due to start in June. Caixin has a set of pictures of the first trial run here, and Xinhua a set here.

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