FEATURE: Travel nightmare on a slow train in China

Asian Economic News, July 23, 2001

After October, trains traveling the 2,372 km from Beijing to Shenzhen will take just 24 hours, five hours faster than at present.

One worry, however, will be safety. The Chinese greatly admire the accident-free track record of Japanese bullet trains.

Ministry sources say China must develop its own automatic operating system that can control train speeds and handle automatic driving as soon as possible.

One official said, ''The installation of modern signaling is still patchy. In the past, accidents occurred because the train drivers had to rely on their eyes and ears to understand ground track situations. However, drivers found it hard to identify ground signals being obscured by clouds, sand, rain and other natural climate conditions that prevail along many routes.

''Speed had to be sacrificed for safety, but that is no longer the way to run a modern railway,'' the official said.