Born to scream: China’s home-made CRH380A high speed trains (here, at the Hangzhou Railway Station). The CRH380A does 380 km/h with no effort; its longer variant, the CRH380AL, hurtled across East China during a test run in late 2010 at 486.1 km/h, crowning it as the world’s fastest HSR train in commercial service.
Despite running at “rail-boss-ordered-this” lower speeds for the moment, China’s high speed rail system continues to impress, inspire and amaze those who’ve experienced it. It’s a little surreal when you’re hurtling through the rice terraces in southern China — you feel you’re just “passing ‘em by” when the speedometer (shown in every train carriage) shows you speeds of 300 km/h or even faster!
As the world’s first 350 km/h HSR network (despite presently running “just” at 313 km/h or less), China’s HSR network is that part of China which must be seen and tried out in person — period. And for those who might think this may be a little too fast: the rails are much more secure now — a nationwide rail safety campaign is ongoing in the wake of the Wenzhou crash. The world’s largest national HSR network offers you the convenience of getting from A to B in comfort and style without those delays at airports that have made quite a number of folks get bald faster. (Your blogger has experienced hair-tearing delays at Pudong which have exceeded 7 hours. Imagine that! By the way, an HSR “delay” is already news if it’s late by about 30 minutes.)
Here’s are links to information on getting from A to B in China by HSR:
- Overview: Network (and routes planned), fleet, hubs, and classes of travel
- Ticketing: How and where to buy, info on ticket changes and refunds, and details on international travellers riding HSR
- Making sense of: train numbers; your train ticket
- Specials: special needs travellers; deluxe travel
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