Which Trains Are Faster? Japan's or China's?

Interestingly, two articles came out today that talked about bullet trains in Japan and China. I cheer China's great technology in moving forward with Mag-Lev trains and high-speed rail.


I do, though, have a concern with quality in some cases. I'm not making a judgment here, just voicing a concern. I do remember a while back when that building in China went up super fast only to fall over a little while later.


What good is it if the quality and safety are not there? As far as I know, Japan has never had a major accident on a bullet train in history. That's a pretty fine record.


Here's the article about Japan's super-fast trains, the Shinkansen. From the Sydney Morning Herald (via News On Japan):


Japan Railways on Saturday unveiled an 80-kilometre extension to the northern tip of its bullet-train network that will take passengers from the previous terminus of Hachinohe to just outside Aomori City. The new track slices about 15 minutes off the trip from Tokyo, with the journey now clocking in about three hours and 20 minutes. From March next year, another 10 minutes will be cut from the journey when new trains known as Hayabusa (or "falcon") start travelling the line at top speeds of 300km/h. By 2013, they'll be rocketing along at 320km/h.

Now, here's the article that also appeared today about China's super fast trains. Wow! From Yahoo:

BEIJING – A Chinese passenger train hit a record speed of 302 miles per hour (486 kilometers per hour) Friday during a test run of a yet-to-be opened link between Beijing and Shanghai, state media said.

The Xinhua News Agency said it was the fastest speed recorded by an unmodified conventional commercial train. Other types of trains in other countries have traveled faster.

A specially modified French TGV train reached 357.2 mph (574.8 kph) during a 2007 test, while a Japanese magnetically levitated train sped to 361 mph (581 kph) in 2003.