Chinese Train Breaks Speed Record

Fastest growing economy, fastest growing automotive market, why not fastest train, too? A long time goal of the Chinese has been achieved this weekend, after one of their trains managed to break the speed record for this type of vehicles, becoming in the process the fastest of its kind on the planet.

According to Xinhua News Agency, the Chinese train, a brand new generation CRH380, managed to achieve speeds of 481.1 km/h (298.9 mph). The previous record, also set by the Chinese this September, was set during a straight 824 miles (1,318 km) line run in between Zaozhuang city in Shandong province and Bengbu city in Anhui province.

And if you think this record setting run was just for the glory of it, you're wrong. China plans to make the train a regular service in the region, with the new line set to open in 2012.

In December last year, the Chinese government announced it had spent $17 billion to develop a new express line called Harmony and $2.4 billion to create a French-designed train station, with 20 tracks and 11 platforms.

Trains are an important component of the Chinese fast growing economy, which tends to become stuck in traffic jams from time to time. Already the country with the biggest high-speed rail network in the world, China now plans to link major cities and provinces by adding an extra 8,125 miles (13,000 km) by 2012 and 10,000 miles (16,000 km) by 2020.

We'll come back on the train which managed to beat, once again, the French TGV, father of all high-speed trains, as soon as the information becomes available.