China's high-speed rail construction is hailed as a miracle of China's economic development, frequently breaking world records. In just 10 years, from technology introduction to global leadership, high-speed rail has not only won the praise of Chinese people but also attracted worldwide attention.

　　Longest operating mileage

　　In 2014, a number of new high-speed rail lines were opened, including Guiyang-Guangzhou, Hangzhou-Nanchang and Changsha-Huaihua sections of the Shanghai-Kunming high-speed rail, and Lanzhou-Xinjiang. By the end of 2014, China's railway operating mileage reached 110,000 kilometers, of which high-speed rail mileage reached 16,000 kilometers, more than half of the world's total high-speed rail operating mileage, making it the undisputed "world number one".

　　Highest operating speed—486.1 km/h

　　486.1 km/h—this is the speed of a jet aircraft at low-speed cruise! On December 3, 2010, on the Zaozhuang-Bengbu test section of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail, the CRH380AL new-generation high-speed EMU set a world record for railway operating speed of 486.1 km/h.

　　Highest wheel-rail test speed—605 km/h

　　In December 2011, a higher-speed test train developed by CSR, also known as the 500 km/h test train, was completed at CSR Sifang Co., Ltd. With a design speed of 500 km/h, it set the highest wheel-rail test speed of 605 km/h in the National Engineering Laboratory for High-Speed Trains. Fast enough!

　　World's highest-grade high-speed rail—Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway

　　In June 2011, the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway was completed and put into operation. It is the world's longest high-speed railway built in one go and with the highest standards. It runs through seven provinces and municipalities—Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shanghai—connecting the Bohai Rim and Yangtze River Delta economic zones, with a total length of 1,318 kilometers.

　　It should be noted that the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, connecting China's most prosperous cities, is very popular; last year, passenger volume exceeded 100 million. On July 1, 2014, on the occasion of its third anniversary of operation, the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway announced that it had officially become profitable, with annual profits expected to reach about 1.2 billion yuan calculated on a business tax basis.

　　World's first newly built high-speed rail in cold regions—Harbin-Dalian High-Speed Railway

　　On December 1, 2012, China's first and the world's first newly built long high-speed railway in a cold region, the Harbin-Dalian High-Speed Railway, was put into operation. The Harbin-Dalian High-Speed Railway has an operating mileage of 921 kilometers and a design speed of 350 km/h, running through the three provinces of Liaoning, Jilin, and Heilongjiang, with 23 stations along the line. According to meteorological records of the past 30 years, the annual temperature difference in the three northeastern provinces reaches 80°C, making it China's coldest region and the one with the largest temperature difference. China's high-speed rail has stood the test in such cold places. Awesome!

　　World's longest single high-speed rail line—Beijing-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway

　　On December 26, 2012, the world's longest high-speed railway in operation—the Beijing-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway—was fully opened. With a total length of 2,298 kilometers, the Beijing-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway is an important "vertical" of the "four vertical and four horizontal" high-speed railway network in China's medium- and long-term railway network plan. It starts from Beijing in the north, passes through Shijiazhuang, Zhengzhou, Wuhan, Changsha, and other places, and ends in Guangzhou in the south. The design speed of the entire line is 350 km/h, with an initial operating speed of 300 km/h. According to a special analysis, the Beijing-Zhengzhou section of the Beijing-Guangzhou High-Speed Railway alone will boost the entire social economy by 275.844 billion yuan before 2030. Building a high-speed rail line drives the economy of a region—this is no exaggeration.

　　World's longest high-speed rail built in one go—Lanzhou-Xinjiang High-Speed Railway

　　On December 26, 2014, the Lanzhou-Xinjiang High-Speed Railway was fully opened. With a total length of 1,776 kilometers, the Lanzhou-Xinjiang Railway is the world's longest high-speed rail built and opened in one go. In addition, it enjoys several "firsts": first, it passes through four major wind zones—Yandun, Baili, Sanshili, and Daban City—and along the line there are several deserts such as Taklamakan and Gurbantünggüt, making it the first high-speed rail to cross desert and windy areas; second, it crosses China's lowest-altitude Turpan Basin and the highest-altitude Qilian Mountain high-speed rail tunnel. The highest rail surface elevation in the 16.3-kilometer Qilian Mountain Tunnel is 3,607.4 meters, known as the "world's highest high-speed rail tunnel".

　　Most astonishing high-speed rail traffic volume

　　In recent years, high-speed rail has conquered many people's hearts with its convenience, speed, and comfort. On lines such as Beijing-Tianjin, Beijing-Shanghai, and Wuhan-Guangzhou, high-speed rail tickets have become "hard to get". In 2014, more than 800 million passenger trips chose high-speed rail, with the busiest being the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, which alone carried over 100 million passengers.