China is developing new bullet trains with a speed up to 400 kmph besides researching on the next generation magnetic-levitation train with a top speed of 600 kmph, a Chinese official said. “We are now focusing on how to link TV signals to trains so that passengers will be able to enjoy films on window-turned screens,” Ding Rongjun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua news agency. He also said China was carrying out research on the next generation magnetic-levitation (meglev) trains which have a top speed of 600 kmph. A permanent magnet drive system has been added to trains and is undergoing assessment, Ding said, adding that automatic and unmanned drive technology will be used in the future.
Maximum speed of China’s bullet trains increased to 350 kmph when the Fuxing (Rejuvenation) bullet trains started operation between Beijing and Shanghai on September 21, 2017. The Fuxing trains are a substantial upgrade on the previous Hexie (Harmony) bullet trains. The Fuxing train is more spacious and energy-efficient, with longer service life and better reliability, Xinhua reported. China started to run its first 350-kmph high speed train between Beijing and Tianjin in August 2008 and opened at least three more such lines nationwide in the following years.
The speed of bullet trains was reduce to 250 kmph to 300 kmph after a major accident in July 2011. Forty people were killed and over 190 injured when two high-speed trains travelling on the Yongtaiwen railway line collided on a viaduct in the suburbs of Wenzhou in Zhejiang province. China currently has the world’s longest high-speed rail network, with 22,000 kms within the country linking various key cities.
