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China Debuts World's Fastest Train

Feb 1, 2010; 3:47 PM ET

China's new Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed railway, dubbed the Harmony Express, began operations as the fastest train service in the world. Connecting 20 cities throughout central and south China, the electric train runs on a ballast-less track and averages speeds of 217 mph - squeezing the 683-mile journey into less than 3 hours (it typically takes 10) and trumping the pace of similar "bullet" trains in Germany (144 mph), Japan (150mph), and France (172 mph).

With massive plans to expand its high-speed rail service to 42 lines by 2012-- with networks running between 70 percent of China's key cities by 2020-- the country is now leading the budding revolution in modern transportation from plane (back) to train.

Suzanne Steinert for ShermansTravel.com

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