(Video REUTERS)
Yesterday China launched a high speed link between Shanghai and Hangzhou. The trains travel at well over 200 miles per hour, the fastest in the universe. Last month they set a speed record. But industry feedback was dismissive, pointing out that running trains at 500 miles per hour would incur ridiculous maintenance costs and wouldn’t be sustainable.
I find it funny that the woman narrating this video talks so s-l-o-w-l-y, especially when compared to the interpreters.
At The Future of High Speed Rail conference in 2010 it was said that trains could reach speeds of up to 186 miles per hour between Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and France are currently reached and there are plans for a new train which will reach speeds of 155 miles per hour between Belgium and the Netherlands.
Speeds of 124 miles per hour have been reached in Sweden for over ten years and there are plans for trains that will reach 199. Poland wants to reach 186 and Russia hopes to get up to speeds of 248 miles per hour, the only country which would beat China.
All countries have the intention of cutting journey times by up to an hour if not more (she said, stating the obvious).
(European information from The Marketforce Future of High-Speed Rail Conference handbook www.marketforce.eu.com).
