China will launch a nationwide railway speed acceleration in 2007, the 6th in nine years, with train speed reaching 200 kilometers per hour for the first time, said sources with the Ministry of Railways.

Minister Liu Zhijun said China has finished the renovation of the 102-year-old Jiaoji Railway to make it allow trains to run at a speed of 200 kilometers per hour.

The railway, built in 1904, stretches 380 kilometers from Ji'nan, capital of east China's Shandong province, to the province's coastal city, Qingdao.

On Sept. 29, it took only one hour and 53 minutes for the first experimental train, made in China, to cover 342 kilometers on that railway, at an average speed of 181.6 kilometers per hour.

"The success of the experimental train on the Jiaoji Railway shows that China has managed the technology to raise train speed to 200 kilometers per hour on existing rails," said the minister.

The nationwide speed raise will boost China's transport capacity, and priority should be to ensure safe operation, said Liu.
 
(Xinhua News Agency October 2, 2006)