New high-speed trains carry 460,000 passengers on Beijing-Shanghai line in first month

BEIJING — The new high-speed trains, Fuxing, carried 460,000 passengers between Beijing and Shanghai in their first full month of operations at maximum speed, Beijing railway bureau said Saturday.

On Sept 21, China increased the maximum speed of Fuxing trains on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway to 350 kilometers per hour.

Fuxing trains are also used on Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway and Beijing-Tianjin intercity rail, but they are allowed to run at 300 km per hour only for the time being.

Fuxing trains on the Beijing-Guangzhou line reached 100 percent capacity, with 420,000 passengers carried.

The Fuxing, literally meaning rejuvenation, became the world's fastest train service some six years after speeds were reduced to 300 km per hour on the Beijing-Shanghai line.

China has the world's longest high-speed rail network, with 22,000 km currently in operation. About one-third of the country's high-speed railways were designed to run at a speed of 350 km per hour.