高铁给中国人带来新生活

Ms. Wang is one of the millions of officer workers in Beijing. For her upcoming business trip from Beijing to Zhengzhou, she chose to travel by high-speed railway. In fact, for both personal and business trips, she prefers high-speed railway to other methods of transportation.

Wang says fast speed and good service are the two things about high-speed trains that keep her riding the rails.

"It's fast and convenient. Everyone knows that time is money. Sleepers on a slow train cost too much time and energy. With the high-speed railway, you could always save time. They provide good service, too. Its service has been well recognized by many people."

Ms. Wang's opinion perhaps echoes many others' in China. More and more people are choosing high-speed railway over other methods of transportation because it's considered fast, punctual, comfortable and it consumes low energy.

But just three years ago, the July 23rd Wenzhou Train Collision added to a national sense that safety was taking a back seat to the country's fast developing infrastructure.

Mr. Li is a retired college teacher.

"Back then, there were several accidents related to high-speed rails, not just the one on July 23rd. High-speed railway development was growing too fast, at the risk of ignoring people's safety."

For the three years that followed, Chinese authorities have slowed down the speed of those trains, but they continued expanding the national network of them.

Today, the country has developed a vast, nation-wide grid of high-speed railways. From the 30 minutes ride between Beijing to Tianjin in the northern part of the country to the five hour trip from Beijing in the north to Shanghai in the south, all routes have played a part in bringing about new ways of life to people in China.

What high-speed railways have already changed in people's daily life is how they spend their holidays.

Ge Lei is the marketing manager of China CYTS Tours Company.

"In the tourism market, high-speed railways have offered people more options for weekend traveling. For example, if you live in Beijing, on weekends you can go to Shanghai, Nanjing, Xi'an or Yangzhou for a quick getaway. So, high-speed railways have increased tourism on weekends."

In fact, high-speed railways have also changed people's choice of where they live related to where they work.

Shi Dan is head of the reach center on energy economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

"For example, if someone works in Beijing, he can choose to live in Tianjin or the suburb of Beijing and commute through high-speed railway. This would probably change his way of life. Although it's a little bit expensive to live this way now, with the cost to take high-speed trains lowering, it's entirely possible that people will choose to live this way in the near future."

In the long run, high-speed railways are likely to stimulate economic development in the regions through which they pass.

For CRI, this is Liu Kun.