Operating the world's fastest high-speed train

China's new generation of bullet trains will travel at 350 km/h when they officially enter service next month.

High-speed train running on the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei route. Video: SCMP.

Seven bullet trains named Fuxing, which means “rejuvenation” in Chinese, are about to officially go into operation, according to Thepaper.cn. The Beijing-Shanghai line will start running on September 21. Meanwhile, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei line will start running on August 21.

All trains are equipped with an advanced monitoring system that can automatically slow down and stop the train in an emergency.

The Beijing-Shanghai line (1,318 km) is one of the most heavily used routes, with about 600 million passengers a year since it opened in 2011, according to China Railway. On the current schedule, the fastest bullet train takes 4 hours and 55 minutes to travel between the two cities, while most other bullet trains take about 5 hours and 30 minutes.

Authorities tested a 350 km/h speed on some sections of the line last month and the results allowed trains to run at that speed on the entire line. Trains could go even faster, with a maximum speed of 400 km/h, according to Xinhua.

China previously tested a maximum speed of 350 km/h, but a serious accident in Wenzhou, Zhejiang in 2011 forced railway authorities to reduce the speed limit.

Zhao Jian, a professor at Beijing Jiaotong University and an expert on the country's high-speed rail network, said high speeds can increase the risk of collisions, so to avoid accidents, operators need to reduce the number of trains on a route.

According to VNE