Beijing-Tianjin Bullet Trains Speed Rises to 350Kph
China on Wednesday increased the maximum speed of the bullet trains on the Beijing-Tianjin high-speed railway from 300 km per hour (kph) to 350 kph.
The Fuxing (Rejuvenation) trains, the newest bullet train model developed in China, first ran at 350 kph on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, with the Beijing-Tianjin line the second to receive the upgrade.
The increase will shorten travel time between Beijing South Railway Station and Tianjin Railway Station from 35 minutes to 30 minutes with no price difference in fares.
The Fuxing trains are a substantial upgrade of the previous CRH bullet trains, said Pan Yu, an assistant engineer from the China Railway Beijing Group (CRBG). Fuxing trains are taller and more spacious, and can run in an environment between minus 40 degrees Celsius and 40 degrees Celsius, he said.
The streamline design has reduced resistance by 7.5 per cent to 12.3 per cent, which reduces energy consumption to a large extent, according to Pan.
The Beijing-Tianjin high-speed railway was China’s first highspeed railway line which went into operation in 2008. Over the past 10 years, 250 million passengers have been carried on the line.
The line issued a new train schedule on Wednesday, with the daily train frequency increasing from 217 one-way services to 272, according to the CRBG.
The length of high-speed railway lines in China increased to 25,000 km in 2017, accounting for 66 percent of the world’s total.
By 2020, the country’s high-speed rail length is expected to reach 30,000 km, covering 80 percent of major cities.