China's fastest train so far, with a velocity of 350 kilometers per hour, is scheduled to begin operation on August 1 to cut the 70 minutes travel time from Beijing to Tianjin, a co-host city of the Beijing Games, to 30 minutes.

"This is one of our efforts to provide speedy and convenient railway service to accommodate the Olympics need," said Wang Zhiguo, vice minister of the Ministry of Railways told a press conference Wednesday.

According to Wang, the train will depart every three minutes during the rush hour and has several stops between the two terminals. Tickets sale will be operated and checked by automated machines. Thanks to advanced technologies applied to the railways and trains, passengers will be able to enjoy the views outside without feeling swimmy, as Wang introduced.

Up to 87 percent of the railway is constructed on bridges, which saves the land, quickens the travel and shortens the distance, Wang said.

For the success of Beijing Olympics, China has constructed a series of infrastructure in and around the Games-related cities.

Trains that run at 160 km/h are scheduled to begin operation before the opening of the Games on August 8 in a line named S2, which connects the downtown Beijing to its northwest suburbs where the Great Wall and other renowned resorts locate.

The Railway Ministry have added about 60 pairs of passenger trains to enhance capacity on routes serving Beijing and the co-host cities, Tianjin, Qingdao, Shenyang, Qinhuangdao, Shanghai and Guozhou (Hong Kong).

The passenger lines covering Jinan-Qingdao, Hefei-Nanning, and Hefei-Wuhan, with a speed of 200 km/h and above, are all ready to support the events held in Shanghai and Qingdao.

Aiming to accommodate the Olympics transportation needs, Wang said, 200-250km/h trains are operated on the trunk lines and routes linking major cities.

By the end of 2007, the operated length of China's railway reached 78,000 kilometers, ranked the third in the world. Chinese railway has taken up 25 percent of the global railway transportation with the route length accounting for 6 percent of the world total.

(Xinhua News Agency July 31, 2008)