China's 450kmph bullet train is the fastest ever built

metalman

450kmph !, that IS realy realy fast

nixon_why69

I was going to guess this was a prestige project like the Shanghai airport maglev but Beijing<->Shanghai is probably a legit economic route for this.

comrade1234

The Shanghai airport maglev used to go around that speed too (~430km/h) over twenty years ago. But these new trains are regular trains running on regular (but specialized and high quality) tracks. There's probably no more need for maglev now that you can run on regular (well not exactly) tracks.

thenthenthen

I swear I have done over 400km/h here in China (402 to be exact) and recall they lowered the speeds at some point? Cant seem to find any articles nor my own photos (the trains have a speed read out in every coach).

bamboozled

China has almost caught up to the USA... \s

rafaelcosta

Is it just for me that `kmph` stood out? Seems like such a cursed way of saying kph or km/h.

mahrain

Airline-like comfort, and airplane-like noise. It's surprising how much noisier the Shanghai Maglev gets once you approach 400kph.

thenthenthen

China also maintains a legacy line of trains, 绿皮火车, that drive at a slower speed and service smaller cities (btw they seem to have been upgraded a lot in the last 3 years, from hard wooden seats to cushioned seats and bed). The best thing (or the worst ;) is that you can smoke in the gangways, which just seems absolutely wild to me. But it was very welcomed during my 37 hour train ride.

rmccue

A 450kph limit for the rolling stock is great, but how many lines are actually capable of these speeds? There's only a single line (Chengdu–Chongqing, currently under construction) which is designed for 350kph, with sections capable of 400kph . Aside from that, most lines are at 350kph - unless I'm missing something.

whinvik

Wow I though 300 Kph was some kind of physical limit. I mean every high speed train in the world used to max out at 300. Now it feels like it was just lack of competition. Maybe now other countries will start producing lines and trains capable of 400 Kph and hopefully its not a China only thing going forward.

madhacker

All this talk about China makes me want to hop on a plane, but the visitor visa process is quite convoluted and laborious for stays longer than two weeks.

jaen

re: business class, > Perhaps oddly, this is superior to first class, where seats are arranged in a 2-2 layout; second class carriages have a tighter 2-3 configuration. I guess the writer of the article does not really ride trains, the terminology is different from airlines. First class just means better than second class (it's usually a bit better), and 2-2 seat configurations are very common. "Business class" in trains is a neologism.