Construction has started on a high-speed rail link between Shanghai and Beijing. The 1,318-kilometer (818 miles) rail line will cost 220 billion yuan ($31.6 billion) and is said to be the biggest capital construction project since theChinese Revolution in 1949.
Trains will travel up to 350 kilometers per hour (217 mph), cutting seven hours off current travel times. Current trains make the trip in roughly 12 hours, meaning its usually an overnight ride even with limited stops.
Traveling by train remains popular in China because it's relatively inexpensive and trains go just about everywhere. Last year, during the Chun Jie (Spring Festival, known to the Western world as Chinese New Year), the country's trains carried 156 million people home for the holiday. Authorities expect the high speed rail line between Shanghai and Beijing to carry 160 million people each year - about double what the conventional line carries.
Officials also expect the bullet train to spark economic growth and urban development around the stations. Along with providing construction jobs, the rail line will boost the efficiency in transporting both humans and freight by alleviating traffic off the current railway system.
Officials laid the new line's cornerstone Friday. The project, already under development for 10 years, is expected to be finished in 2013.
Photo by Flickr user harryalverson.
