High-speed rail faces critical test
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Other countries with advanced high-speed railway technology, such as Germany, Japan and France, do not carry passengers over the same distance as China's railway will.
Earlier media reports said countries such as Russia, the US and India have expressed interest in working with China.
A railway researcher told China Daily earlier that the long-distance, high-speed railway is more demanding on train manufacturing technologies than China's first 120-km, high-speed rail link between Beijing and Tianjin.
China also has ambitions of building high-speed railways over 80 percent of the current network of airlines by 2020 to offer passengers a cheaper, more reliable ride. It wants to cover 70 percent of the country's key cities.
According to a blueprint by the Ministry of Railway, the mainland will build 16,000 km of high-speed railway by 2020, with trains running as fast as 350km/h.
By 2012, 42 high-speed railway links amounting to 13,000 km will be finished, of which 5,000 km will be operated at 250km/h, while 8,000 km will run at 350km/h.
