Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

World's Longest High-Speed Rail Line Opens In China

Posted by Soulskill on from the flatten-all-the-pennies dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Today China continued rolling out the future of high speed rail by officially unveiling the world's longest high-speed rail line — a 2,298-kilometer (1,428-mile) stretch of railway that connects Beijing in the north to Guangzhou in the south. The first trains on the new route hit 300 kph (186 mph), cutting travel time between the two cities by more than half."

8 of 322 comments (clear)

  1. Therewhile ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...the United States has the longest Slow Speed rail lines of the world.

    1. Re:Therewhile ... by webmistressrachel · · Score: 5, Funny

      And the United Kingdom has the slowest Slow Speed rail lines in the world... we even had a name for it given by the staff of the state operator.

      It's called British Rail Time - around rnd*9 hours behind GMT (or BST), whichever is currently operating. The only timezone in the world defined in pseudocode.

      --
      This tagline was transcoded to result in at least one smirk. If you experience failure to smirk, please consult your Gen
    2. Re:Therewhile ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Our freight system is the best in the World, though. And if high speed passenger rail made sense, trust me, the railroads would be on it.

      You're assuming they're still in the passenger business. They aren't. And you're also assuming that nobody is being an impediement to them.

      They are.

      If we had the population density to warrant such a passenger system to make it worth while, folks would be jumping on it.

      I'm all for rail and efficient transportation. Just because it is so in other areas doesn't mean it's appropriate for another. In other words, a high speed rail system in the US - for except maybe the Northeast - just doesn't make financial or environmental sense. It's a lose/lose proposition.

      Let's be smart about it.

      And then you see that during the 20's and 30's, we had over a billion rail-passengers a year, when the population was a lot less dense in most areas.

      You may think that rail makes no sense except in limited areas, but then you take a look at one of those Earth at night maps and see lots of shining lights. Are there places where rail makes no sense in the US? Absolutely.

      But there's a lot more places where we could use it. But we don't have it. Why isn't it being built? Is it a combination of opposition to government, greed on the part of automobile, highway and fuel companies, or what?

      Heck, just ask Florida. They voted in a high-speed rail. Then somebody lead a campaign to do what? End it. Why? Do you believe he was really concerned about the fiscal interests, or was he thinking of his own?

    3. Re:Therewhile ... by Meyaht · · Score: 5, Informative

      ... It's just that the US has given up on improving its infrastructure.

      this bears repeating

      --
      I believe in karma, which is why, when I do something bad to people, I assume they deserve it.
  2. Reference by PacRim+Jim · · Score: 5, Informative

    For reference, that's about half the width of the U.S., or about the length of Japan.

  3. Nice. Connects to Shenzern. Hong Kong in 2015. by Animats · · Score: 5, Informative

    There's already a high speed rail connection from Guangzhou to Shenzhen North. The high speed rail connection through to Hong Kong is scheduled for completion in 2014, and will shorten travel time for that last link from 2 hours to 38 minutes. (Except that there's a border control point between Shentzen and Hong Kong that takes longer than the travel time.)

    Another step has been taken in tying China more closely together. That's part of the political motivation. Traditionally, China's provinces were not closely connected. Each province was expected to be self-sufficient in food and other essentials. That continued through the Mao era, and it's not completely gone. There are still some inter-provincial trade restrictions.

    Of course, the South still speaks Cantonese, while the North speaks Mandarin. This despite half a century of effort by the central government. "The mountains are high and the Emperor is far away".

  4. Re:Meanwhile in the US... by h4rr4r · · Score: 5, Informative

    So should we get rid of the interstates as well?
    What about airports? Should they all be closed for the same reason?

    I propose HSR not for any romantic notions, but because I have ridden it in Europe. I have been on the damn things and seen how well they work.

    How about you name a method of travel that meets those goals so we can compare it to HSR.

  5. Re:Meanwhile in the US... by BasilBrush · · Score: 5, Informative

    The interstate highway system is paid for by the federal government. $425 billion. Apparently the largest public works system since the pyramids. Why exactly Americans think of this as "a brilliant economic success" and state funded medicine as "socialist" the FSM only knows.

    Well actually we do know. Because that's how lobbyists chose to frame them.