High-speed trains are expected to run at an operational speed of 500 kilometers per hour or above by 2050, experts said in Beijing on Thursday.
Track-laying work for the long-anticipated Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway stood complete when Railways Minister Liu Zhijun tightened the line's last bolt on a windy Monday morning.
China’s Ministry of Railways is conducting a review of the country’s ambitious high-speed rail proposals after an influential state-backed think-tank raised questions over the affordability and practicality of the planned network.
China has approved plans for a 70.8-billion-yuan ($10.6 billion) high-speed railway to connect its inland cities of Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, and Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province. Construction of the railway is due to begin later this year.
Two bullet trains simultaneously set off from Shanghai's Hongqiao Station and Hangzhou Station in Zhejiang province at 9 am on Tuesday, inaugurating China's latest high-speed rail link.
China's high-speed railways are attracting attention around the world for their state-of-the-art technologies using independent intellectual property rights.
China is to spend as much as 700 billion yuan on high-speed rail construction this year, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing He Huawu, chief engineer of the Ministry of Railways.
China's fastest high speed train rolled off the production line Thursday in Changchun, capital of the northeastern province of Jilin, a company executive said.