Scout trains

In the early morning half-light, two trains prepare to pull out of the stations at each end of the Beijing-Shanghai High-speed Rail line. There are no passengers, and the trains will travel at a stately speed of a mere 200 km per hour, or just 60 percent of full speed.

There is only one driver on each train, but the safety of the subsequent trains running the rest of the day will largely depend on their keen powers of observation as well as their years of experience.

These are the scout trains making test runs on the track every day to make sure that nothing goes wrong later when the first regular services pull out of their respective stations from Beijing, and Shanghai.