China started to import technology of high speed train with speed of 200 kilometers per hour in 2004. The first Beijing-Tianjin high speed rail with proprietary intellectual property rights began operation in 2008. Multiple unit train CRH380A started operation in 2010. China has spent six years in the high speed rail development which takes developed countries 50 years.

As of the end of last December, the mileage of China’s high speed railway approached 13,000 kilometers with train speed above 200 kilometers per hour. China’s high speed rail ranks the first in terms of mileages, speed, scales and development speed in the world.

China’s high speed railway set speed record

China’s high speed railway leaps to the leading level in the world in six year. The country built motor train unit technology platform and manufacturing system with train speed of 200-to-250 kilometers per hour after it made innovated the imported technology in 2004. In 2008, China developed motor train unit with speed of 350 kilometer per hour independently. Two years later, the new generation high speed train with speed of 380 kilometers per hour was manufactured.

China’s high speed railway has overcome a series of technological problems at the train speed level of 350 kilometers per hour and 380 kilometers per hour, like the safety of long time operation, stability problem, frequently passing in and out tunnels, etc.

One engineer from the Ministry of Railways said that all these problems have not been seen or been solved in other countries in the world, but China has already figured out these problems and applied these technologies into practical operation.

In 2010, the high speed train CRH380A researched and manufactured by China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corporation Limited (CSR) refreshed the global highest speed of operation test of 486.1 kilometers per hour during a combined test in 2010.

China launched the fastest high-speed rail train with speed of 500 kilometers per hour in December 2011. The manufacturer CSR increased the train speed to 600 kilometers per hour during a test, which makes it the fastest train in the world.

China’s high speed railway going abroad

According to incomplete statistics, important members of governments or international organizations from more than 30 countries have used the Beijing-Tianjin high speed train for more than 200 times since China’s high speed railway started operating.

“Facility demands of importing advanced technologies, designing and manufacturing own brand makes China’s high speed railway the late-moved advantages”, Sun Zhang from the Institute of Railway and Urban Mass Transit under Tongji University said, “China has the technologies of high speed railway and the advantage of low cost, which makes China’s high speed railway system attractive for other countries”.

Countries like Russia or United States put forward cooperation with China to import high speed railway technologies. China’s high speed railway not only changed domestic railway pattern but also changed the world.
　
China and Russia signed a memorandum to develop high speed railway two months after the Wuhan-Guangdong railway began to operate in October, 2009. In November, 2009, U.S. General Electric Company signed a memorandum with China’s Ministry of Railways.

Chinese locomotive equipments of high speed railway manufactured for Turkey arrived in Istanbul in July, 2011. Because of technology and price advantages, China signed cooperation contracts with countries like Laos, Thailand, Brazil, etc. China has also reached agreement with Myanmar, Poland, India and Asian countries to cooperate in high speed railway area.