Onboard the first train on the Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Rail

[bcat]

Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Rail opened to public for commercial service on June 30, 2011. The first train departed from Beijing at 15:00. I took this very first train and recorded the trip with my iPhone and GPS.

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing–Shanghai_High-Speed_Railway

Videos:

1. http://youtu.be/4UknU0kt-UI
2. http://youtu.be/zrPeVQjrMIM
3. http://youtu.be/jdjkE4fgYFQ
4. http://youtu.be/GbW6IyykDhQ
5. http://youtu.be/dYk3Qbr5tTc
6. http://youtu.be/BDyQl8fvlOM

Pictures: http://www.yaohua2000.org/2011/20110630/en.html

 

[AlterEgo]

Thanks for sharing!

How did you manage to get on this train? Looks like a great piece of engineering.

 

[bcat]

Thanks for sharing!

How did you manage to get on this train? Looks like a great piece of engineering.

Tickets for the first trains were put on sale at 09:00 on June 24. I booked my ticket at 09:02.

 

[gordonthemoron]

externally looks a lot like an ICE3, however internally 2nd class seating are 2+3 rather than 2+2

 

[jopsuk]

the CRH3/CRH380B are Siemens Velaro, but wider bodied (by 300mm), mainly built under licence in China.

 

[kylemore]

Great pics bcat! The infrastructure looks amazing, I've never visited China so have to rely on what the UK media tells me and currently the theme is of poor and faulty construction and vast over planning, with fearful and downtrodden punters, but it looks fine to me, and the punters look happier than their UK counterparts at the moment!

 

[jopsuk]

The new line is, to be fair, a victim (sort of) of corner cutting, in that they've had to drop the service speed limit from 380km/h to 300km/h- the Minister responsible for overseeing this has been forced out.

 

[exile]

However - it is 800 miles long and was built in LESS THAN THREE YEARS - and you can buy a one-way ticket for the equivalent of less than £50.

 

[jopsuk]

yes- built a bit shoddily (thus the speed limit drop) and with any objections dealt with in the sort of way that you can only get away with in a brutal dictatorship

 

[WatcherZero]

The new line is, to be fair, a victim (sort of) of corner cutting, in that they've had to drop the service speed limit from 380km/h to 300km/h- the Minister responsible for overseeing this has been forced out.

That Minister is now alledging that all the trains were built to max 300km/h and that they lied about the capability of 350kmh and even 380kmh to outdo foreign high speed rail rivals. Theyve also had major problems with the power supply with over two dozen service affecting power failures in the first couple of weeks, one train also blew a transformer and had to limp along at 80mph until it could be taken out of service. Their promising that the power issues will be fixed within weeks.