Bullet trains will link Chinese capital Beijing with six major cities from April 18, according to First Daily, a Beijing newspaper.

 

The trains will travel at speeds of between 200 and 250 kilometers per hour between the capital and the six cities of Shanghai, Wuhan, Shenyang, Changchun, Harbin and Qingdao, reducing journey times by an average of two hours. The journey between Beijing and Shanghai will take ten hours.

 

Ticket prices for the bullet trains will cost 50 percent more than the current express trains, which usually travel at 115 kilometers per hour.

 

Passengers will be allowed to book tickets 20 days in advance at designated ticket offices in the cities involved or at railway stations.

 

Tickets for the first bullet train services will go on sale on Saturday night, only four days in advance.

 

Non-stop express trains would also start to operate between Beijing and the three cities of Nanchang, Nantong and Fuzhou.

 

The Railway Ministry will hold a press conference on Thursday on the preparations for the sixth round of the railway "speed boost" program aimed at increasing the railway system's passenger handling capacity by 18 percent and its cargo capacity by 12 percent.

 

China raised the speed limits of trains for the first time in 1997 when most were running at a mere 60 kilometers per hour.

 

(Xinhua News Agency April 12, 2007)