Chinese break rail record

[M-technik-3]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101203/ap_on_hi_te/as_china_high_speed_rail

Wonder if it's built like most things in China? Fall Apart in a year or so? I have rode the TGV and the German Ice trains and don't get leery of high speed rail but would not want to ride their's.

[Fusion]

This is goverment lead. There's no way it can be low quality.
Plus they know that if one of these things flys off the rails with 400? people onboard, the humiliation would be overwhelming.

[AndrewBird]

Imagine if a cow wandered onto the track in one of the farm areas. That would be one big splat.

[M-technik-3]

It's my opinion.

[FredK]

China did not develop their high speed rail alone. They absorbed technology from Siemens, Alstom, Bombardier, and Kawasaki. Basically, the next generation trains that don't exist in the home countries of these companies were built in China for a Chinese high speed rail program.

I applaud them for having a high speed rail initiative that isn't just plain stupid like in the US, where people squabble about capital costs and noise pollution, such that it still takes 3 hours to go from Boston to NYC via Acela. Sure, Amtrak unveiled a multi-year program but we'll see what happens.

What I don't like about their rail program is the flouting of intellectual property laws that will likely result from these companies consorting with the Chinese government.

[M42Power]

The TGV hit 570 km/h

[ALYKZANDYR]

I wonder if we will have to have your balls fondled by TSA to get on if we ever introduce high speed rail here.

[b*saint]

It wouldn't matter if 400 person train flew off the tracks in china. They have 3 billion people.

[phreshkid]

B, you don't get it. This story in a sense, unveils an engineering breakthrough finally put into reality and the fact that the Chinese brag about such, the idea that if this train were to hypthetically derail at such high speeds and kill 400 people, it would bring embarrassment to the country for putting a project like this into motion without figuring out all the possible negative scenarios that can come of this.

But that's just what I think.

[Wiglaf]

A 300+mph rail that went coast to coast would be a goldmine for us, but the thought of how to politically and logistically pull it off leaves me with a sour note. Can we switch to dictatorship, build this, then get back to democracy? :nice:

[ck_taft325is]

A 300+mph rail that went coast to coast would be a goldmine for us, but the thought of how to politically and logistically pull it off leaves me with a sour note. Can we switch to dictatorship, build this, then get back to democracy? :nice:

Hehe. Sometimes that sounds almost tempting... sometimes ;)

[b*saint]

B, you don't get it. This story in a sense, unveils an engineering breakthrough finally put into reality and the fact that the Chinese brag about such, the idea that if this train were to hypthetically derail at such high speeds and kill 400 people, it would bring embarrassment to the country for putting a project like this into motion without figuring out all the possible negative scenarios that can come of this.

But that's just what I think.

I git it now.

[///e30freak]

a couple things. If one of these trains ever derailed, the western world would never hear about it. the story would be jumped on and covered up before the fires went out.

second, the Chinese only EXPORT shit.

[kishg]

China did not develop their high speed rail alone. They absorbed technology from Siemens, Alstom, Bombardier, and Kawasaki. Basically, the next generation trains that don't exist in the home countries of these companies were built in China for a Chinese high speed rail program.

I applaud them for having a high speed rail initiative that isn't just plain stupid like in the US, where people squabble about capital costs and noise pollution, such that it still takes 3 hours to go from Boston to NYC via Acela. Sure, Amtrak unveiled a multi-year program but we'll see what happens.

What I don't like about their rail program is the flouting of intellectual property laws that will likely result from these companies consorting with the Chinese government.

+100

The US can learn a thing or two from China in many aspects these days. There's a distinction between Chinese goods and CHEAP Chinese goods. e.g, Apple products vs the crap that's sold at HF. It's US consumers that demand cheap crap.

[Conki]

Yes, the Chinese have been manufacturing the highest quality products for the past decade for those who are willing to pay for it. And those companies make sure that strict quality testing guidelines are followed, trust me.

If you want to pay a fraction of the cost for a product, the Chinese are willing to take the deal. But you'll get the fraction of the quality as well. But it doesn't mean they can't produce quality products, it just means that we are really cheap most of the time and we want cheap stuff.

Look at Apple products. They suck and fall apart all the time right? Nope. (OK you can mention your experience where your 6 years old iPod's screen started acting up. So it means Apple sucks, I get it.)