High-speed Chinese train kicks French, Japanese butt

[MrMark]

Having travelled on the trains in China (yes - including the Maglev) and in Japan I have to say that they beat trains in the UK every time. Having said that I have only travelled first class on Chinese trains and I'm sure it's a very different experience on other parts of the train...

You'll soon to be able to travel from London to Madrid in 8 hours by high-speed train

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/to...cle6934799.ece

The line, which was planned to be in service from 2012, will mean that British travellers will be able to take the Eurostar to Paris in 2 hours and 15 minutes. Allowing for some delay in crossing Paris, they will then be able to board a high-speed train from the French capital to Madrid, stopping off in Lyon and Barcelona.

The journey time between Paris and the Spanish capital is expected to be between 5 hours 30 minutes and six hours.

However those elsewhere in the UK hoping for a high speed link, can forget it. There is talk of a high speed link between London and Scotland. Estimated opening date? 2025 [Edit]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8434653.stm

Building work could begin in 2017, with the first trains running in 2025

[AtW]

I did some travelling in China last year and the company I travelled with for one part of the trip got us "hard sleepers" i.e. second class. It was awful to say the least.

Was it in new high speed trains?

I find that "standard class" in UK "high" speed trains is pretty crowded when the wagon is filled up - it's tigher than it used to be IMHO in older Intercity trains.

First class in UK trains is ok - but it costs so much that I only used it once: when (for some odd reason) price for ticket was exactly the same as standard one). It's NOT worthy 2-3 times the price though.

[minestrone]

I bet they had real engineers with degrees working on it who understand maths rather than a bunch of semi capable, semi qualified diddies who think that there is only one Bernoulli.