Bullet Train Ready to Start off

Bullet Train Ready to Start off

News from Tianjin Railway Bureau Wednesday shows that the Ministry of Railways will conduct a final check on the bullet train in Tianjin on Thursday. The train will be put into operation not later than October 21 when the railways department raises the speed for the third time.

Tianjin Railway Bureau explained that the test run of the bullet train has basically been concluded. However, only the final test result from said Ministry can become the final basis for the train's staring time. The specific starting time of the train may possibly be fixed either Thursday or Friday. According to an official with the Tianjin Railway Bureau, during the test run of this type of train, under the circumstance of fewer carriages, the maximum speed of the train reaches 225 km/h, and is 180 km/h under normal condition. Traveling at this speed, it takes the train only 40 minutes to reach Tianjin from Beijing. But in actual operation, it is still impossible to reach this speed due to the limitation of the railway itself and car dispatch time along the line. In the early stage of operation, the bullet train will maintain the same speed as that for inter-city trains, i.e., finishing running the whole course in 79 minutes, and the time set for this in the medium- and long-term goals is 60 minutes.

The security function of the bullet train is extremely high, especially in case of an emergency brake applied when an accident occurs during high-speed operation, the train can keep on smooth running. It has a pneumatic-piston device for pulling the door and automatic inductive opening and closing equipment so as to guarantee passengers' safety when getting on and down the train. Besides, it has hi-tech environmental protection installations.