China goes full speed ahead with world’s fastest bullet trains

World Today

China goes full speed ahead with world's fastest bullet trains

Ahead of the 19th National Party Congress, we are reviewing China’s reforms – and progress – over the years. China has focused on picking up the pace in its innovation technology – with new bullet trains.

That has shrunk a massive country, transforming once far-flung villages into connected mega-cities.

As part of our series, ‘China Footprint’, CGTN’s Jonathan Betz traveled to Chengdu.

When considering China’s rise, there isn’t a more fitting example than the bullet train. Both are moving at breathtaking speeds.

Ten years ago – China didn’t have a single high-speed train. Now it has the world’s fastest – and largest network – thanks in large part to researchers like Guo Dilong at Beijing’s Advanced Railway Mechanics Center.

Workers constantly study ways to make the trains more aerodynamic. Their work began in 2003 with Japanese technology. Since, they’ve increased the trains’ speed by 100 kilometers an hour.

The hope is, one day for trains to move almost as fast as planes.   Labs across the country are focused on ways to push technology to new limits.

At Southwest Jiaotong University in Chengdu, they have a pretty large piece of machinery. It’s a simulator to train the engineers.

It simulates the exact trip between Beijing and Tianjin – to test engineers under all kinds of conditions. In a few years, China’s built entirely new industries – on the ground, in the skies and in space.

In June, the country showed off the first Chinese-built passenger jetliner.

And since 2003, China has sent a man into space, landed a rover on the moon and began work on a massive space station.  

All of it is possible because of China’s ability to pour billions of dollars into the cause.

“China can gather all the resources and has the power to do big things,” Wu Pingbo, Professor of the State Key Lab of Traction Power SAID. “This is decided by the Chinese system and the leadership of the Communist Party of China. It provides us a perfect stage to showcase our knowledge and realize our dreams.”