China opened the world’s longest high speed railway line on Wednesday, claiming to cut travel time down by more than half from the country's capital city Beijing in the north to the country’s economic hub Guangzhou in the south, some 2,298 kilometers (1427.91 miles).

The trains first official journey from Beijing to Guangzhou took place at 9 am Wednesday at a speed of 300kph and with a total travel time of eight hours, some 12 hours less than the fastest time between two destinations. A Chinese official called the high speed route "one of the most technically advanced in the world."

There are 35 stops along the route, including major cities like Wuhan and Changsha. Cars have a grim reputation as an alternate means of transportation in China, therefore rail routes play an essential part in the country's transportation system and the government annually pours millions of Yuans into the development of the industry, including building a nationwide grid and using of state of the art technology.

Wednesday's launch, however, is not without a controversy. Last year, 40 passengers were killed while traveling through a rapid line in eastern Zhejiang province, raising safety concerns over the rapidly growing network and placing a threat over the export of such high speed technology.

"We have developed a full range of effective measures to manage safety," Zhou Li, head of the ministry's science and technology department, told reporters on a trial run from Beijing to the central city of Zhengzhou.

"We can control safety management," he added.

Following last year’s tragic incident, investment in the industry declined sharply with the media reporting a 500 billion Yuan cut to a five-year plan ending in 2015. However, the planned investment budget was raised three times only this year by the Ministry of Railway as part of government’s efforts to bolster the slowing economy.

Despite heavy investment, the industry continues to operate under loss. Nonetheless, the government remains committed to its development, building high speed routes between the country’s major cities.

"High-speed railways are needed for national development, for the people and for regional communication. Many countries have boosted their economies by developing high-speed rail," Zhou Li said.

Aside from the safety concerns, Japanese officials often complain that Chinese railway technology is taken from them, an accusation Chinese rail executives have strongly denied.

http://www.allvoices.com/contributed-news/13681915-china-officially-launches-worlds-largest-highspeed-rail-route



Today China unveiled a 300km/h Bullet train, while Nigeria is celebrating a 30km/h 1960 tech locomotiv.

Slow and steady wins d race bro...U̶̲̥̅̊ re nowher within china`s reach...for God`s sake dis is a country wif d 2nd largest economy we re talkn abt.we nigerianz too dey like put head 4 sumfn wey pass us...why don't U̶̲̥̅̊ compare us wif oda african countries dat z 52 yrs nd below(apart 4rm SA)

My brother i don't pray for this kind of technology in Nigeria for now because of our carelesness, corruption, disregard for life and bad attitude of our leader and some Nigerians as a whole. Image the kind of accident that can happen just because the oga don chop the money for braking system or fulani man carry cow pass the rail line or a yoruba man drive is danfo along the track just because he can't wait for trafic to move or an ibo man inported a fake part of the train to make easy profit or inflated countract by the Gov with bad execution.

Nonsense. Dont learn to walk before attempting to fly.