National Railway Speedups

From Wiki China org cn

The first railway speedup happened on April 1, 1997. Besides lifting the average speed to 54.9 kp/h (it was officially recorded as 48.1 kp/h in 1993), it also saw the introduction of new express trains with a top speed of 140 kp/h. Also, to reduce the time of journey, some long-distance routes began operating overnight services.

The second speedup came on October 1, 1998 and was marked by a new top speed for express trains of 160 kp/h. The average speed for express trains rose to 71.6 kp/h, while standard passenger trains also accelerated to an average of 55.2 kp/h. The country's first luggage trains and nonstop trains to tourist destinations were also introduced.

Speedup number three came into effect on October 21, 2000 and was mostly concerned with the speed of trains traveling on the Lanzhou-Lianyungang and Beijing-Hong Kong routes. The average speed of standard passenger trains rose to 60.3 kp/h.

The fourth speedup came on October 21, 2001 and involved some 13,000 km of passenger routes in almost all the country. Eventually, the average speed rose to 61.6 kp/h and more express trains were introduced.

The fifth speedup came on April 18, 2004 and involved some 16,500 km of railway lines. The average speed of passenger trains rose to 65.7 kp/h, while the top speed of express trains traveling the arterial routes was increased to 200 kp/h.

The sixth speedup started on April 18, 2007, involving 6,003 km of railway lines, with the top being increased to 200 kp/h. On some sections, express trains will be able to hit 250 kp/h.

Technicians preparing the railway for speedup