CRI听力:Shanghai-Hangzhou High-speed Railway Starts Operation

The high-speed railway linking eastern China's metropolis of Shanghai and Hangzhou, capital of neighboring Zhejiang province, began operation today.

The service marks another step in China's pursuit to expand high speeh rail across the country.

CRI's Zheng Chenguang has more.



The fastest train in the direct service between Shanghai and Hangzhou can cover the 202 km route in just 45 minutes, traveling at up to 350 kilometers and cutting 33 minutes off the previous time.
 
The service is the second one of its kind in the Yangtze River Delta. On July 1st, the high-speed railway between Shanghai and Nanjin, capital city of Jiangsu province, was put into operation as a part of the efforts to boost regional integration.

The opening of the new service attracted the attention of both media and the public. Since many tickets have been reserved for reporters, only a few ordinary passengers are able to get one ticket for the first high-speed train between Shanghai and Hangzhou.

Wang Shenjie, a train super fan is one of those lucky people.

"The highlight of today is the formal operation of the CRH 380A train. We all know that the train once hit a maximum speed of 416 kilometers per hour. And this is the first time I experience a trip on such a train."

The China-made train sets a new record for world train speed during its trial run between Shanghai and Hangzhou in September.

The high-tech train as well as the new railway attracted not only Wang Shenjie, a local of Shanghai but also many train fans from other cities.

"We two come from Shanghai, our friends are from Changzhou, Ningbo and Hefei. One guy from Xiamen cannot take the first train because he didn't book the ticket successfully. Some of us even asked for leave from work in order to take the first high-speed train."

China's Railway Ministry Spokesman Wang Yongping expressed his optimism towards the new railway line.

"I am optimistic about the future of the Shanghai-Hangzhou high-speed railway because the Yangtze River Delta is one of China's major economic zones. At the same time, it is a densely populated area with a great demand for rail service."
The launch of the new railway line helped China break the world's record of high-speed railway mileage again.

"I can announce now that the new route brings the length of China's high-speed railways in operation to 7,431 kilometers-the longest in the world. The train's speed up to 350 km an hour is also the fastest in the world. In addition, more such railways are under construction, covering about 10 thousand km."

For CRI, I'm Zheng Chenguang.