Day 30: A High-Speed Ride from Beijing to Shanghai

I tried, but there is absolutely no way one photo can begin to convey the immensity of the new Beijing South train station which, I was told, is the largest in all of Asia. The best I can do is show you the photo I took of an artist’s drawing to scale of this amazing building.

Sleek high-speed trains use this station and, in fact, their newest high-speed line linking Beijing and Shanghai had its inaugural run at the very end of this past June. But there are many other trains coming and going here … carrying commuters and people traveling between this capital city and southern provinces at more conventional speeds.

Here’s a shot of the electronic board providing departure information. Note that it lists a total of 34 trains that were scheduled to leave Beijing for a variety of destinations in just over a four-hour period.

The newest, fastest Chinese trains have pretty much the same streamlined aerodynamic design typical of high-speed equipment in Europe. These trains are rated for 350 km/h (218 mph), but are being limited to top speeds of 300 (187 mph) for the time being. There is a digital read-out at the front of every car and the highest speed I noted during the 4-plus hour ride to Shanghai was 304 (189 mph). For the record, the ride was quite smooth and pleasantly quiet.

This photo was taken from the train about 20 minutes after leaving Beijing South station. It seemed like an exceptionally smoggy day, although it could also have been that we were passing through an area containing a lot of industry.

It’s obvious to even the most casual tourist that the Chinese government has two main priorities: feeding and housing people. There are massive high-rise apartment buildings going up everywhere and, from where this shot was taken all the way to Shanghai, every square foot of tillable land was being used for growing vegetables, including a great deal of corn. (I’m not sure why, but that surprised me.), And, unfortunately, it’s equally clear that environmental concerns are at or very near the bottom of their list of priorities.

Next: Shanghai … Another Big WOW!