The incredible Chinese high-speed rail
Is this a magic trick, or scientific experiment? Well, it's maybe a bit of both. All aboard a high-speed train hurtling across the Chinese landscape at speeds up to 300 kilometers an hour!
During this nine-minute video, the coin kept its balance, prompting a surge in online viewers worldwide. Some took to performing similar experiments on high-speed trains in their own countries… with varying levels of success!
Although the Japanese high-speed train is also great, do you think that it is the safest? Or Shinkansen is the fastest? Think again! Chinese high-speed rail – or CRH – stands out in front, commanding the top-6 places in world speed rankings and some 60% of global high-speed track mileage.
The Beijing-to-Shanghai high-speed train has even clocked in speeds up to 480 kilometers an hour. That's about 300 miles an hour! And with this high speed, the time to travel from New York to Washington could be shortened from the original 3h50min to 53.5min.
In 2017, the Renaissance EMU train achieved an average 350 km-per-hour journey between Beijing and Shanghai. That kind of speed would get you from London to Edinburgh in less than two hours. But the price is just a mere 20 pounds or so. In fact, China sells the cheapest high-speed train tickets in the world, which means if a Londoner gets on a Chinese high-speed train on Friday after work, it will be very easy to travel to Edinburgh and enjoy the most authentic Scotch whisky there.
"High-speed rail changes life." That is why China keeps building it. Since high-speed rail debuted in China with the Beijing-to-Tianjin link in 2008, China has built four east-west high-speed lines across the country and four north-south routes.
Along with its extensive high-speed rail networks, China has been transformed into a vast, economically-connected transportation network. Departing from Beijing in the morning, you can go to Shanghai to have a meeting and arrive in Hangzhou in the afternoon to enjoy beautiful scenery and eat local delicious sweet and sour fish near West Lake. At night, you can return to Beijing at 10pm, right on time. It is easy to shuttle between three cities in just one day.
Nowadays, there are many young people choosing to live a twins life -- living in a quiet city while working in a bustling city. The transportation time is only an hour while the cost is as low as 16 US dollars.
Different from other countries, high-speed rail construction in China receives government subsidies and support. It has also been constantly upgraded in the past five years. As high-speed rail increases the flow of economic and trade exchanges, it also facilitates the mobility of population and enterprises, allowing smaller cities to develop alongside major metropolises.
As you know that in comparison to other forms of transportation, high-speed rail means reductions in noise, pollution, and energy consumption. Therefore, China can protect the environment with its best efforts, while still pursuing fast economic development. There are so many benefits about high-speed rail, no wonder that China has never stopped with its upgrades.
In the past five years, under the leadership of Chinese President Xi Jinping, China is no longer satisfied with just having high-speed rail and its national system. The country continues to strive for a faster, safer and cheaper high-speed train.
On August 30, 2017, China announced the development of "flying train" capable of traveling at up to 4,000km/h, which will achieve "low-altitude flight" and float. If the train is launched, with its speed 5 times faster than an existing civilian aircraft, it could transform the world's travel mode.
Just imagine the picture: you close your eyes as soon as you get on the train. After taking a quick nap and waking up, congrats: Welcome to China!
