China opened 32(!) new high speed rail routes this week, including a connection between Shanghai and Guanzhou equivalent to a trip between Los Angeles and Seattle.
"A high-speed railway connecting Guangzhou and Shanghai in just seven hours will go into operation tomorrow," according to Katie Nelson for Shanghaiist (the news originally came via Shanghai Daily).
Nelson also notes that "[a] total of 32 new high-speed routes will be launched December 10, Shanghai's railway authority announced. The trip between Shanghai and Guangzhou, Guangdong province has been shaved down from 16 hours to six hours and 51 minutes, and travelers looking to go from Shanghai to scenic Guilin, Guangxi province will now be able to make the trip in about nine hours, versus the previous 19 hours."
In reaction to the big project in China, Robert Cruickshank notes on the California High Speed Rail Blog that "[the] distance from Shanghai to Guangzhou by rail is 1780 km, or a little more than 1100 miles. For comparison’s sake, that’s about the distance from Seattle to Los Angeles."
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