Bullet Trains are running lengths and breadth of China. While looking from the window of our Beijing apartment, I could see the fast trains wizzing past at amazing speeds. As usual, I have no much work to do here in this third stint in China but to watch the places, people, and incidents!
It is summer here. The maximum temperature in Beijing goes upto 30 degree celcius. Though the locals find it too hot, for the ones like me who come from the tropical climate, find it very comfortable. It is quiet comfortable sitting in the room without even a fan or an airconditioner. Right from the sofa set in which I am sitting, the elevated track of the railway is visible.
It is summer here. The maximum temperature in Beijing goes upto 30 degree celcius. Though the locals find it too hot, for the ones like me who come from the tropical climate, find it very comfortable. It is quiet comfortable sitting in the room without even a fan or an airconditioner. Right from the sofa set in which I am sitting, the elevated track of the railway is visible.
The Chinese high speed trains are named CRH, ie China Rail Highspeed. They can run at speed as high as 250KM per hour. A train from Beijing to Shanghai takes just 4 hours. Around 1000 kilometers is covered in this time. Cost of journey from Beijing to Shanghai by train on a second class coach is 550 Yuans and that on a first class is 920 Yuans. The trains are fully airconditioned and a pantry car is an integral part of the train. Intersetingly, no vendors walk along the walkways shouting vada, chaya and cooldrinks. It is really a pleasant journey by the highspeed trains, perhaps, more comfortable than an air travel.
The sprawling Shanghai Hongchau railway station is well maintained. Like in airports, every train has an entrance gate. The gate is opened only a few minutes before the arrival of the train so that passengers can enter the platform and wait for the train. While entering to the platform through the gate, we pass our ticket through an automated door. The door opens once the ticket is validated. No loitering around on the platforms and no entry for the people accompanying the passengers. No TTE in a black coat roams around on the trains because the ticket is checked at the gate itself (another source of curruption is curbed thus!!).
Till the gates are opened, passengers can comfortably sit in the vast waiting area. It has very attractive seating arrangements, food courts and television display units. The crowd behaves well and no beggars are seen roaming around. This makes the wait there very easy.
Interior of the trains are elegantly made. Good cushioned seats and enough leg space ensures our journey so pleasant. There are dispay units on eather side of the coach that gives information of the approaching station and the speed at which the train is running. Another interesting thing is that the toilets are not opened to the rails. All types of discharges in the toilets are stored and disposed of at appropriate spots. This is the system I saw in Europe too.
Why is Indian Railways still let the human discharges fall in the open places including at railway stations? Many times, if anyone happens to be below a rail bridge in India while a train passes by, there is every chance that he/she is bathed in human excreta. So obnoxious indeed.
Now, sitting at an office room at a chinese manufacturer's place around 100KM away from Shanghai, I can hear a roaring sound once in every few minutes. The High Speed trains are dashing off the place to its destinations, carrying development to different parts of China
Now, sitting at an office room at a chinese manufacturer's place around 100KM away from Shanghai, I can hear a roaring sound once in every few minutes. The High Speed trains are dashing off the place to its destinations, carrying development to different parts of China
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