Speed Up

China is a land of big things. It has the most people in the world—1.6 billion. It has some of the largest cities in the world. China has three of the world’s longest bridges. And of course, for thousands of years, China has had the longest wall in the world. So it should be no surprise that when it comes to trains, China is going big and fast!

Twenty years ago, the average speed of a train in China was only around fifty kilometers per hour. Many people took the train each day. Trains were becoming very crowded. The government needed to find a solution. They chose high-speed trains. Trains are cleaner than buses and airplanes because they use less gasoline.

The Chinese government started a program called Speed Up. China began making a high-speed train system in 1988. Fast trains work best on straight, flat tracks. Workers changed some old tracks to save money. They made the old tracks stronger and smoother. This made them safe for faster trains. Recently, they built brand-new tracks just for high-speed trains. Foreign train experts are helping China to build their high-speed lines. The trains and tracks use parts from all over the world. Engines came from countries like France, Germany, and Japan.

Today, China has the largest system of high-speed trains in the world. It also has some of the fastest trains. The Wugang line is one example. The line connects the middle of China to the coast. It is almost one thousand kilometers long. The trip used to take ten and half hours. Now, it takes less than three hours. On the way, the train travels at 312 kilometers per hour. The Speed Up program is still going strong. The government plans to have high-speed trains connecting all the biggest cities in China by 2020.