More than 150 pairs of high-speed trains will run every day on the world’s longest high-speed rail line opened in China last week, the official Xinhua News Agency has said, citing the Ministry of Railways as a source.
Each train will travel at an average speed of 186 miles per hour or about 299.3km/h.
The new train has reduced by more than half the travel time from the country’s capital in the north to Guangzhou, an economic hub in southern China.
China has massive resources and considerable prestige invested in its showcase high-speed railways programme.
But it has in recent months faced high-profile problems: part of a line collapsed in central China after heavy rains in March, while a bullet train crash in the summer of 2011 killed 40 people.
The former railway minister, who spearheaded the bullet train’s construction, and the ministry’s chief engineer, were detained in an unrelated corruption investigation months before the crash.
Trains on the latest high-speed line will initially run at 186mph with a total travel time of about eight hours.
Before, the fastest time between the two cities by train was more than 20 hours.
The line also makes stops in major cities along the way, including provincial capitals Shijiazhuang, Wuhan and Changsha.
Buffett’s company sells two railroads
Meanwhile, Warren Buffett’s company has sold two short-line railroads it recently discovered it owned to satisfy regulators who might have reviewed Berkshire Hathaway’s 2010 acquisition of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad.
Berkshire told the Transportation Department’s Surface Transportation Board last month that it had completed the sale of both short-line railroads ahead of schedule.
If Berkshire had reported owning those railroads when it bought BNSF, the Surface Transportation Board would have had to scrutinize the deal.
Berkshire first disclosed owning the railroads to the Surface Transportation Board in September.