Worlds Longest Bullet Train Line

[Mojo-jojo]

World’s Longest Bullet Train Line Opens in China

Photo: Sjors Provoost/Flickr

High-speed rail has hit another milestone, this time in China, with the opening of the world’s longest bullet train line.The 1,425-mile high-speed rail system runs from Beijing to Guangzhou, reducing the time travelers would spend commuting between the capital and the manufacturing city from 22 hours to a scant 8 hours.Traveling at an average speed of 186 mph, the line stops in Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou, Wuhan and Changsha before arriving at its final destination in Guangzhou.The opening of this newest high-speed rail line is just the latest in a string of bullet trains that have begun to infiltrate the country after the network began operation in 2007. There are currently 5,779 miles of high-speed track in the country, and the state-run China Daily newspaper says that’s set to expand to over 31,000 miles of track by 2020.But this latest milestone hasn’t come without its problems. According to the AFP, safety concerns have been a regular issue since 2008, with one high-speed rail collision occurring in 2011 that claimed the lives of 40 people.“We can’t make sure it’s error-proof in the future, and we have been subject to a lot of pressure from the public,” Zhao Chunlei, deputy chief of the ministry’s transportation department, told the Global Times newspaper.The timing of the high-speed rail line correlates with China’s Lunar New Year holiday celebration, which takes place this February, and will see hundreds of millions of people traveling across the country to visit their ancestral homes in what’s described by the AFP as “the world’s largest annual migration.”

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2012/12/worlds-longest-bullet-train/

 

[AsifAmeer]

Now thats the bright side. The dark side is, since their Govt borrowed from the Banks to build this project, inflation went up, making the poor more poor. Meanwhile, once this train is ready to go, either its going to remain subsidized and continue to make a hole in the Govt books and distort market pricing and cause more suffering to the poor who wont get a dime out of it.

But if we lower the bar of judgement, well.. atleast they built something for public use...

 

[syediqbal]

Asifmeer u always says glass is half empty, wake up bro...and compare with our Pakistan, where are they standing in last 65 years and where are we in the same time period.

 

[Mojo-jojo]

These projects will have good payoff in the long run in terms of energy saving, cutting carbon-emissions and moving large number of people efficiently. USA should have built these kind of train systems between its major population centers long time ago but automobile and airline industry lobbies were too powerful to overcome for US politicians.

 

[Raaz]

Longest Bullet is from Kabul to Karachi......actually....

 

[zhohaq]

Now thats the bright side. The dark side is, since their Govt borrowed from the Banks to build this project, inflation went up, making the poor more poor. Meanwhile, once this train is ready to go, either its going to remain subsidized and continue to make a hole in the Govt books and distort market pricing and cause more suffering to the poor who wont get a dime out of it.

But if we lower the bar of judgement, well.. atleast they built something for public use...

Would you Apply the same to the FDR era Govt built Interstate highway system that is universally celebrated by Americans??

The Chinese have the cash and are spending it well. The Private sector will only produce AMTRAK.
Without govt investments you condemn a country into living like the Amish.

 

[majidwaraich]

good for them, when we will learn and make projects like this happen in Pakistan.

 

[AsifAmeer]

Guys.. I dont think I disagree with what u guys are saying. Am left with the impression that Energy is underpriced today. This includes oil, gas, coal. coz if energy goes up, only then these projects can be viable.

I think I agree with u folks.

These projects will have good payoff in the long run in terms of energy saving, cutting carbon-emissions and moving large number of people efficiently. USA should have built these kind of train systems between its major population centers long time ago but automobile and airline industry lobbies were too powerful to overcome for US politicians.

Would you Apply the same to the FDR era Govt built Interstate highway system that is universally celebrated by Americans??

The Chinese have the cash and are spending it well. The Private sector will only produce AMTRAK.
Without govt investments you condemn a country into living like the Amish.

 

[remykhan]

Real bullet train we have in Pakistan, bullet after bullet after bullet.