Economy
Fast train drowning flight price
By Zhao Chunzhe (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-12-10 17:17
Airlines slashed their airfare from Wuhan to Guangzhou to as low as 260 yuan ($38) to rival against the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed train, chaoyang.nen.com.cn reported Thursday.
The test run on Dec. 9 of the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed train went smoothly. It took less than three hours to travel from Guangzhou to Wuhan on the high-speed train, which reaches 394 km per hour, the highest speed in world railway history,
It took four years to build the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway, which covers 1,068.6 km and has 9 stops.
The Wuhan-Guangzhou railway is the fastest and longest high-speed railway in China. The whole project cost 100 billion yuan ($14.6 billion) and is an important project in China’s 11th five-year plan (2006-2010). Only German and Japan have the same kind.
A passenger who experienced the trial run said, “I feel comfortable. Even the up-side-down bottle didn’t fall.”
The Wuhan-Guangzhou railway is the world's first 350-km per hour ballastless track and is slated to be in operation at the year end.
