China opens Beijing-Shanghai "bullet" line

Jun 30, 2011, 10:06 GMT

Beijing - Premier Wen Jiabao launched the first 'bullet' train passenger service on Thursday on a high-speed railway between two of China's major cities, Beijing and Shanghai.

Wen boarded a train for Shanghai following a ceremony in Beijing to open the 1,318-kilometre line to commercial traffic, state media said.

Trains on the 221-billion-yuan (34.2 billion dollars) line would operate at speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour and roughly halve the fastest journey time to under five hours, railways officials said.

Earlier reports said the Ministry of Railways planned to run 90 pairs of trains daily on the line, with 63 of them capable of operating at up to 300 kilometres per hour and the rest at up to 250 kilometres per hour.

The ministry said the line was designed to double the rail passenger capacity between the two cities to 160 million annually.

Tickets for the fastest trains are priced from 555 yuan (86 dollars) to 1,750 yuan (270 dollars), while those for the slower trains are between 410 yuan and 650 yuan.

Many business people currently travel between the cities by air, with dozens of flights daily.

The ministry cut the maximum operating speed from a previously announced 350 kilometres per hour, a speed that was achieved on test runs.

Chief engineer He Huawu on Monday rejected rumours that the speed reduction was due to safety concerns. 'The adjustment to the operating speed of the railway was made to meet people's needs, to increase transport capacity and reduce costs and energy consumption,' he said.

His comment followed unconfirmed reports that Liu Zhijun, a former minister of railways who was sacked in February for corruption, had ordered engineers to ignore safety standards to run trains at the higher speed.