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The previous 5 railway speed boosts

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2007-04-23 15:42

The 1st Time: China's railway first upgraded the speed of their trains on April 1, 1997.  Besides lifting the average speed to 54.9 kph (it was officially recorded as 48.1 kph in 1993), it also saw the introduction of new express trains with a top speed of 140 kph. Also, to reduce journey times, some long-distance routes began operating overnight services. The key focus for upgrading the system this time was the three main railway lines in China, the Beijing-Guangzhou line, the Beijing-Shanghai line and the Beijing-Harbin line. This specific upgrade took Shenyang, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan as railway hubs, and 40 pairs of quick trains and 64 day-trip trains travelled at speeds of up to 140 kilometers per hour (kph) and at an average of 90 kph respectively.

The 2nd Time: On October 1, 1998, China boosted the speed limit for rail traffic for the second time. The speed of the three main railway lines in some sections was boosted to 140-160 kph. At the fastest speed, the tilting trains on the Guangzhou-Shenzhen line even reached 200 kph. The average speed for express trains rose to 71.6 kph, while standard passenger trains also accelerated to an average of 55.2 kph. The country's first luggage trains and nonstop trains to tourist destinations were also introduced.

The 3rd Time: On October 21, 2000, the third speed boost for China railway system took place. The lines being upgraded this time were the Lanzhou-Lianyungang line, the Lanzhou-Xinjiang line, the Beijing-Kowloon line and the Zhejiang-Jiangxi line. The train class and the train numbers were also re-adjusted. Adopting an online ticket system, more than 400 railway stations in China offered remote ticketing business. The average speed of standard passenger trains rose to 60.3 kph.

The 4th Time: On November 21, 2001, China boosted the speed limit for rail traffic for the fourth time and made a new railway operation map. The fundamental coverage of this speedup included most areas and the medium-sized cities in China. It saw the average speed rise to 61.6 kph and also the introduction of additional express trains. 

The 5th Time: On April 18, 2004, for a fifth time China implemented a speed boost in the railway system. The highest speed of the Beijing-Guangzhou line, the Beijing-Shanghai line and the Beijing-Harbin line in some sections could reach 160 kph. Moreover, China put 19 pairs of direct express trains from Beijing to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Harbin, Wuhan, Xi'an and Changsha.