Get to work in 1 minute and 12 seconds on China's new bullet train

Transport, Travel Gadgets, Vehicles
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My bus to work currently takes me about 50 minutes – a distance of about 5 miles. Using my good old physics A-level, that means it travels at about 6.5mph. That’s rubbish. Walking is about 3mph. This train, however, would shorten my commute somewhat.

It’s a new bullet train, currently being built in China between Shanghai and Beijing – a distance of 1,318km. The designers reckon they’ll be able to do that distance in five hours, meaning that their train is 37 times faster than my bus. In other words, if I were to take this train to work, my commute would be just 1 minute and 12 seconds. That would be nice.

Tangshan Railway Vehicles Co Ltd are the chaps developing the train, and it should be operating by 2012, just in time for the Olymp…. oh. Roll out some bullet trains in the UK, please!

Tangshan Railway Vehicles Co Ltd (via Gizmowatch)

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Duncan Geere
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