TechLahore

China launches the world's fastest train...

Let me just start off by saying that the Chinese rock! And what I wouldn’t give to ride this amazing new piece of technology they’ve unveiled; the fastest train in the world. This bad boy hits 394.2 kph without breaking a sweat and links Wuhan in central China with Guangzhou in the country’s south. That’s a whopping 1,068 kms of track! China is the world’s foremost railroad builder now, with plans to lay over 16,000 additional kilometers of track before the year 2020. That is, assuming of course, that the Mayans were wrong.

The new train is completely designed and manufactured in China and is one of the many fruits of gigantic investments in this area. In 2009 alone, China invested $50BN in its high speed rail system which is fast becoming a new wonder of the world.

A map showing railroads in China. The length and breadth of the country can conveniently be traveled via high speed rail!

According to Wikipedia:

In 2009, the People’s Republic of China announced plans to build 35 high-speed routes by 2012. Around 13,000 km of high-speed railways, capable of handling trains at between 200 and 350 km/h would be completed and put into service by 2012. Mainland China’s railways were among the main beneficiaries of the government’s 4-trillion-yuan ($585 billion) stimulus package.

At least five routes are to accommodate trains traveling at speeds of 350 km/h. So far, the People’s Republic of China has built 185 km of track capable of handling 350 km/h trains, including the link between Beijing and Tianjin, which opened shortly before the 2008 Olympic Games. The five lines include three north-south routes: Beijing-Shanghai; Beijing-Hong Kong; and Beijing-Harbin (via Shenyang and Changchun). The two east-west high-speed lines are Xuzhou-Lanzhou and Shanghai-Kunming. The five lines along with three other lines with a designed speed of between 200 and 350 km/h, will become the trunk lines of China’s future high-speed passenger rail network.

The list of China/Pakistan joint ventures and partnerships is longer than what we could do justice to here. Most notably, recently China has also partnered with Pakistan on railway modernization. Truth be told, seeing these new high speed trains get commissioned in China make my mouth water and I hope similar initiatives are planned soon in Pakistan also.

We wish our Chinese brothers the very best of luck with their amazing pace of modernization and development. Pakistan wishes you well!

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