World's Fastest High-Speed Train is Now Running in China
The world’s fastest high-speed train, averaging 217 mph, was just launched in China. It blows away the competition, but may not be so special for long.
The train will cover a distance of 663 miles (1,068 km) from Wuhan (central China) to Guangzhou (in the south). It will reduce the travel time between these cities from over 6 hours to about 2 hours and 45 minutes.
This is just the beginning, though.
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China plans to expand its high-speed rail to 42 lines by 2012! It intends to invest $300 billion by 2020 and buy at least 80 super high-speed trains.
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This new high-speed train, developed by Seimens, Bombardier and Alstom hit 245 mph at its fastest, and averaging 217 mph it is well above the next closest trains (France’s — 172 mph, Japan’s — 151 mph, Germany’s — 144 mph). Fast trains!
The US could definitely benefit from some of those. Bridgette Meinhold of inhabitat states that with a train of that speed “a trip from New York City to Chicago would take a little over 3 1/2 hours.” I think it’s high time for the US to start considering high-speed trains more seriously!
Related Stories:
1) Super High Speed Rail for China — $4 Billion Purchase
2) Asia Light Years Ahead of the US in Clean Tech Investment — Financial and Economic Consequences
Image Credit: Extra Medium via flickr under a Creative Commons license
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