China Testing 500 km/h High-Speed Train

December 26th, 2011 by Zachary Shahan

It’s no secret that China is light years ahead of the U.S. on the development and use of high-speed trains. The latest news out of China is that it launched a super-fast high-speed rail (HSR) test train over the weekend. State-run media announced today that the train can travel up to 500 kilometers per hour (~310.7 miles per hour).

The train, designed to look like an ancient Chinese sword, was made by a subsidiary of CSR Corp Ltd, China’s largest train maker.

The train “has a maximum tractive power of 22,800 kilowatts, compared with 9,600 kilowatts for the CRH380 trains currentlyin service on the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, which hold the world speed record of300 km per hour,” China Daily notes.

h/t Reuters | Image Credit: China Daily

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Tags: China, china high-speed rail, china high-speed train, high-speed trains, HSR, quickies

About the Author

Zachary Shahan spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as the director/chief editor. Otherwise, he's probably enthusiastically fulfilling his duties as the director/editor of Solar Love, EV Obsession, Planetsave, or Bikocity. Zach is recognized globally as a solar energy, electric car, and wind energy expert. If you would like him to speak at a related conference or event, connect with him via social media. You can connect with Zach on any popular social networking site you like. Links to all of his main social media profiles are on ZacharyShahan.com.

Sirsparks Electrical

Great but anyone notice the tracks are rusty and unused ?
No test runs first I guess just like the products we buy from China.
- http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan
  
  Well, I’m a little confused about your comment, since the announcement is specifically about test runs.
  - Sirsparks Electrical
    
    Oh OK, 500 KPH is fine on rusty track if it’s only a test run.
    My bad!
    - http://cleantechnica.com/ Zachary Shahan
      
      Well, you were saying/implying that it hadn’t done test runs. That’s all i was replying to.
      
      As to whether or not it did test runs on rusty track, that’s completely unknown. It’s looks like it’s parked on rusty track — but the rocks in the pic look rusty to and it’s clear the color in the photo has been ‘enhanced’ in some ways. But who knows where it was tested. Furthermore, if it’s going to run on rusty track in real life, shouldn’t it be tested on them as well? Shouldn’t it be tested in worst possible conditions?
      
      It seems you’ve got a gripe with China, but don’t go overboard..
Anumakonda Jagadeesh

Aiming at faster than sound if not light!
Dr.A.Jagadeesh Nellore (AP),India
E-mail: anumakonda.jagadeesh@gmail.com