World's longest high-speed rail line opens in China
BEIJING China on Wednesday opened the world's longest high-speed rail line that more than halves the time required to travel from the country's capital in the north to Guangzhou, an economic hub in southern China.
The opening of the 1,428-mile line was commemorated by the 9 a.m. departure of a train from Beijing for Guangzhou. Another train left Guangzhou for Beijing an hour later.
China has massive resources and considerable prestige invested in its showcase high-speed railways program.
But it has in recent months faced high-profile problems: part of a line collapsed in central China after heavy rains in March, while a bullet train crash in the summer of 2011 killed 40 people. The former railway minister, who spearheaded the bullet train's construction, and the ministry's chief engineer, were detained in an unrelated corruption investigation months before the crash.
Trains on the latest high-speed line will initially run at 186 mph with a total travel time of about eight hours. Before, the fastest time between the two cities by train was more than 20 hours.
The line also makes stops in major cities along the way, including provincial capitals Shijiazhuang, Wuhan and Changsha.
More than 150 pairs of high-speed trains will run on the new line every day, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the Ministry of Railways.
Railway is an essential part in China's transportation system, and the government plans to build a grid of high-speed railways with four east-west lines and four north-south lines by 2020.
The opening of the new line brings the total distance covered by China's high-speed railway system to more than 5,800 miles — about half its 2015 target of around 11,000 miles.
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No law suits, no nothing. If the Chinese government decides to build something they build it. If that means moving several million people within its right-of-way they move them. The people there have very limited voice in what the limits of their government does. In the USA we are on the other end of the spectrum, we study things to death and maybe if we are lucky 10 years later we start building what we have studied - assuming we have the support of the local people and the money to build it. Look at Calfornia with there HSR process. It will be 2050 at the earliest before they build high speed rail -if it happans at all. The cost will likey exceed $200 billion.
High speed rail is not an option most living around rail lines would prefer.
We need a new electric grid in the US too.
C'mon Congress. Do something.