Comfortably fast

                As I read yet another article focusing on China’s ever increasing rail system I think, why oh why can’t we pay the Chinese to come in to Australia and build us some proper high speed infrastructure. Despite all the problems and issues, the Chinese just seem to get it done. While I am aware that train travel is also an integral part of Chinese mobility, it still doesn’t stop me from feeling like I need to have a whinge!

                This latest train, which reportedly gets up to a speed of 314km/hour, looks like an absolute beast – a luxurious beast at that. This one comes complete with first class trappings, more akin to flying than train travel.

                I have particularly fond memories of the high speed train we used to take between Wuxi and Shanghai. It was an hour long trip in comfortable seats on a train so stable that you had to double-check  that it was actually moving. That train was also fast, but seemed to only really hit the higher speeds (from memory around 230ish km/hour) in the middle of the trip. For most of the journey it would cruise along at around the 150 km/hour mark, making me wonder whether there were some kind of speed limits within certain proximity of towns.

                The train takes around five and a half hours to get between Shanghai and Beijing, with around ninety services running per day – that’s some serious people movement.

                Ah China, I wish I could return to you.

The Governator checks out one of the new high speed trains...