World's fastest train link starts operation in China

China today started operation on its fastest rail link in the world with a high-speed train connecting the modern cities of Guangzhou and Wuhan at an average speed of 350 kilometres an hour.

The super-high-speed train reduces the 1,069-km journey linking Guangzhou, a business hub in southern China near Hong Kong, with the capital Beijing, to a three hour ride and cuts the previous journey time by more than seven-and-a-half hours, Xinhua news agency said.

Test runs for the rail link began earlier in December during which it recorded a maximum speed of 394.2 km per hour and the operations officially began today, said Xu Fangliang, general engineer in charge of designing the link, according to Xinhua.

By comparison, the average for high-speed trains in Japan was 243 km per hour while in France it was 277 km, he said.

The network uses technology developed in co-operation with foreign firms such as Siemens, Bombardier and Alstom.

The work on the project began in 2005 as part of plans to expand country's high-speed network, Xinhua added.

China unveiled its first high-speed line at the time of the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Country's ambitious rail development programme aims at increasing the national network from the current 86,000 km to 120,000 km, making it the most extensive rail system outside the United States.