China rang in the new year by announcing plans to increase its high-speed railway service by 50%—to 30,000 kilometers from the present level of 20,000 kms—by 2020. The country already already claims 65% of the world's high-speed rail trackage.
The world's longest high-speed rail link, which covers 2,252 km to connect the cities of Shanghai and Kunming, began service on Dec. 28. The train cuts the journey from 35 hours to 11 hours while passing through five provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan, China Railway Corp. said. Work on another high-speed rail line linking Kunming and Nanning cities was also launched.