China to speed up bullet trains on Beijing-Shanghai route in Sept

BEIJING - China's new generation bullet train, the Fuxing, will run on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway from Sept 21 at 350 kilometers per hour, China Railway Corp said Sunday.

It will be the world's fastest commercially-used bullet train and will cut travel time between the two cities to 4.5 hours from 6 hours.

China started to run its first 350-kmh high speed train between Beijing and Tianjin in August 2008 and opened at least three more such high speed lines nationwide in the following years, until the authorities ordered speeds to be cut to between 250-300kmh in 2011.

The Fuxing trains were unveiled in June and are capable of top speeds of 400 kmh.

On July 27, the Fuxing trains were tested for safety and reliability at maximum speed .

From Sept 21, these trains will make seven round trips each day.

The trains are entirely designed and manufactured in China, led by the China Railway Corporation. China holds complete intellectual property rights on the trains.

China has the world's longest high-speed rail network of over 22,000 kilometers, about 60 percent of the world's total.

About one-third of China's high-speed railways were designed to allow trains to run at a speed of 350 kph, according to He Huawu of the China Academy of Engineering.