China’s High Speed Rail

A few days before China opened the new 1300-mile (2000km) High Speed Rail line between the capital Beijing in the north and Guangzhou in the south, I was fortunate to travel along the 800-mile (1300 km) Shanghai-Beijing line. Travelling at top speeds of 300km/h, the train makes the journey in a mere 5 hours, at an average speed of 260km/h. The distance is comparable to Paris-Madrid (1300km) in Europe, where the fastest journey by French TGV [Train à Grande Vitesse] and Spanish AVE [Alta Velocidad Española] takes 10 hours – twice the time! Now, in even less time, here is a summary of what I thought of it.

Departure: From the city centre, Shanghai Hongqaio Railway Station is conveniently linked by two metro lines (and four more are planned!) though it might require some less favourable changes from other lines. Rising a few levels to the vast departures hall (pictured), the station begins to feel a little like an airport terminal: passing through baggage scanners and metal detectors, then proceeding to an area of departure gates.

Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station
Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station – Departures Hall

Journey: The analogy with aircraft ends as the train carriage begins, but that is a good thing: the amount of space, particularly leg-room available was the first thing I noticed upon entering economy class. Considering the height of the average Chinese, this is even more surprising, but perhaps it serves a second purpose as room to store luggage when the overhead shelves are full. Despite travelling in the low season, my carriage at least appeared full, but not packed.

China HSR carriage
China HSR – empty carriage

Arrival: Slightly disappointingly, the train pulled into Beijing South Railway Station some 15 minutes late which, while not dramatic, is still 5% on top of the timetabled 5-hour journey time. Luckily, the subway was still running so no harm was done. A one-way ticket price of 555 RMB (£55) might only be affordable for a small percentage of the population, but considering the relative comfort and convenience of travel when compared with flying, in my opinion, rail travel now beats air travel at an ever-increasing range of distances.

Further Reading:

Guardian article, Wednesday 26 December 2012

NYTimes article, published 26 December 2012

BeijingShanghai HSR (Distance: 1,302 km / 809 miles)

Beijing-Guangzhou-Hong Kong HSR (Distance: 2,230 km / 1,390 miles)

4 Comments

  1. WilliamAmise
    September 18, 2018

    台北市-萬華【禾云室內設計│台北城市工程】─萬華室內設計│萬華裝潢統包│萬華木作工程 http://interior-plan.com/

    Reply
  2. marniedal
    October 8, 2018

    Hey, I am Marnie Dalby an expert in academic writing.

    I love solving people’s problems and make them happy. That is what I have been doing for decades now.
    I have been writing since I was 12 years old and never knew it would turn out to be a full-time career. I have also been able to manage several projects that involves writing. And I worked in three organizations as a volunteer to assist people.My interest has always been to help people succeed. And I go the extra mile to make that happen.
    I enjoy writing books and have helped people from countries like Australia.
    I work with a service provider whose mission is to provide quality papers and make people happy. In fact, many people come to me for help on a daily basis because they know I always deliver. And I will continue to provide nothing but the best to build trust like I have been doing for the past few years.

    Expert academic writer – Marnie Dalby – //www.prospectfinearts.com/]Prospectfinearts Corps

    Reply
  3. rufus
    June 23, 2020

    Hello ,
    I’m Rufus Laing.
    If you’ve ever been too tired and couldn’t finish a academic paper, then you’ve come to the right place. I assist students in all areas of the writing technique. I can also write the essay from start to finish.
    My career as a scholarly writer started during high school. After learning that I was very able in the field of academic writing, I decided to take it up as a profession.

    Skilled Academic Writer- Rufus Laing- http://www.technlogyreview.com Team

    Reply
  4. Нажмите здесь для дополнительной информации – https://provideo.mobi

    Reply

Leave a Reply to rufus Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *