China to open high speed rail

BEIJING: China's much-anticipated high-speed rail link between Beijing and Shanghai will go into service on July 1, state media said on Thursday, after a corruption scandal that toppled the former railways minister.

A ceremony will be held on June 30 to mark the opening of the link, before trains go into commercial use on July 1, the Xinhua news agency reported, citing the railways ministry.

The $33 billion link, which has been operating on a trial basis since mid-May, will cut the journey between the two cities to four hours and 45 minutes two hours less than the fastest current trip by train.

The Beijing-Shanghai flight takes about two hours. But travel to the airports is in itself time-consuming, and the busy air route is often subject to delays and cancellations, making train travel an attractive option.

One-way ticket prices will range between 410 yuan and 1750 yuan ($63 and $270) subject to further adjustments, vice rail minister Hu Yadong said last week, compared to about 1,300 yuan for a flight between the two cities.

China has invested heavily in its high-speed rail network, which reached 8,358 kilometres (5,180 miles) at the end of 2010 and is expected to exceed 13,000 kilometres by 2012 and 16,000 kilometres by 2020.

But huge investment has also made the sector a hotbed for corruption, which has raised concerns over the costs and safety of the high-speed rail links.

China's state auditor in March revealed that construction companies and individuals had last year siphoned off 187 million yuan ($28.9 million) in funds meant for the Beijing-Shanghai link.

This followed the sacking of former railways minister Liu Zhijun in February, who had allegedly taken more than 800 million yuan in kickbacks on contracts linked to China's high-speed rail network.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011