Wordl's largest high-speed project completed early as Beijing-Shanghai line opens

摘要

China's premier Mr Wen Jiabao officially inaugurated the 1318km Beijing - Shanghai high-speed line on June 30 with passenger services starting on July 1. Construction began on the Yuan 220.9bn ($US 34bn) project in April 2008, but has been completed much faster than planned, as the line was originally scheduled to open in 2012. Trains will run at a maximum speed of 300km/h, rather than 380km/h as envisaged by the previous railway minister. Mr He Huawu, chief engineer with the Ministry of Railways, stresses this is not due to safety reasons: "The adjustment to the operating speed of the railway was made to meet passengers' needs, to increase transport capacity and reduce costs and energy consumption." However, increasing the operating speed to 350km/h has not been ruled out in the future.