If you're still looking for those 400RMB Shanghai-Beijing air tickets and can't find them, look no further. They do not exist anymore. more ›

Yet another systems design flaw with our multi-billion dollar high-speed rail?: "People have found that the bar code on the train tickets can be decoded by software downloaded from the Internet. Information such as passport or other ID numbers, which are partly concealed on the tickets, will then be revealed. In a recent test, a passenger surnamed Zhou downloaded software to a cell phone and scanned the bar code with the cell phone camera. Information including the departure time and the passenger ID number began to show on the cell phone 'within seconds,' Zhou said. Industry insiders said there's no way to prevent the decoding." [Shanghai Daily] more ›

Five migrant workers caught stealing cables from the Shanghai-Beijing high-speed railway have been sentenced to five years in prison each, Shanghai Daily reports. The 580 kilogram cables they took were not very important, thank god, but rather were unused cables from the elevated bridge in Jiading District's Nanxiang area. They are said to have a value of nearly 50,000 yuan (US$7,728). So apparently migrant workers are now both building our high speed rails and tearing them apart. more ›

Chinese and foreign journalists were treated by the railway ministry two days ago to a test drive of the brand new Beijing-Shanghai line, now the world's longest high speed railway. CNN managed to snag the following cockpit view which the rest of us hoi polloi will probably never be able to see:
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Take that you headline-hogging speedy rail thing! After ticket prices were finally released for the Shanghai-Bejing high speed train, opening this Friday, it looks like multiple Chinese airlines have slashed fares in anticipation of the competition! The screen grab above is from a Ctrip search for one-way tickets from Shanghai to Beijing. All told, the total for the cheapest ticket comes out to 590RMB - a mere 35RMB more than the cheapest ticket for the five-hour train! more ›

Everyone going from Beijing to Shanghai or the other way around in the new high speed trains is in for a treat. There will be 403 pretty attendants, or high-speed sisters (高姐), as called by netizens, attending to passengers needs (don't get too excited though, they are not going to attend to EVERY need). They are all an average of 22 years old and have an average height of 165 centimeters. They are also edumacated - each girl has at least graduated from junior college and can speak standard Mandarin Chinese as well as fluent English. more ›

Sorry guys, there will be no super fast connection to Guangzhou in the near future. Rumours of the high speed railway line between Guangzhou and Shanghai being launched in July have just been disclaimed by Guangzhou Railway (Group) Corporation. The speedy seven-hour connection to China's first developed city is still under construction, and the completion date unknown, as Sun Zhang, a transport professor with Tongji University, has told Global Times Sunday. Still, this is just a minor setback for China's existing, planned and under-construction high-speed rail network - check that amazing feat here. more ›

Despite the news that they'll be slowing down the trains due to possible problems related to the corrupt Railway Minister, I still am super enthusiastic about the opening of the Shanghai to Beijing line! From China.org.cn: "An ID-based ticket booking system will be used for all China Railway High-Speed (CRH) trains starting June 1 in an attempt to prevent ticket scalping. Shanghai may implement the system as early as May 22, due to its 11-day presale of tickets. During the Beijing-Shanghai line’s trial, scheduling of other Beijing-Shanghai trains may see some adjustments. But even train attendants who are going to serve on the Beijing-Shanghai CRH trains know little about its speed and passenger capacity." more ›

For those of you who are eagerly anticipating to shorten their trip from Shanghai to Beijing - it’s good news. The world’s fastest train began a trial journey on Sunday. The trial covers the Shanghai section of the train - 645 kilometers connecting Zaozhuangxi in Shandong province to Hongqiao in Shanghai. more ›

If you thought Shanghai traffic was bad now, just wait until next month. Traffic authorities warned that Shanghai traffic would continue to get worse from now until October. According to the Shanghai Daily, over 360,000 tourists arrive in Shanghai every day and this number is expected to rise. more ›

Even more exciting transportation news: workers have begun laying the tracks for the highly anticipated Shanghai to Beijing high-speed railway. The $220.9 billion yuan project will span three municipalities (Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai) and pass through four provinces (Hebei, Shandong, Anhui and Jiangsu), connecting by rail nearly a quarter of the country's population. more ›

From July 11, twenty six new non-stop express trains will be added daily to theShanghai-Nanjing high-speed railway, departing from both cities every hour between 8am and 7pm. Passengers had complained there were too few of the 73-minute trains running between the two cities, with four currently running each day. The line is the first high-speed rail in the Yangtze River Delta region, and has had over 130,000 passengers per day since opening on July 1. Tickets for the express journey cost 146 RMB. more ›

While everyone was getting excited about a high-speed rail to Beijing... and Hong Kong, it seems like the Chinese transportation authorities had even grander plans: they are now holding negotiations to build a track into India and Europe. The network could carry passengers from London to Beijing at 200mph (which would take two days) or onto Singapore if they had an extra three days to spare. One consultant was optimistic that the networks could be completed in a decade. Yeah, don't hold your breath on that time table. more ›

• Someone has taken issue with the thug guards at Xintiandi, which allegedly harassed not only a poor kuadi delivery guy who had his bike stolen, but also a group of Taiwanese kids just looking for a place to sit. [Access Asia]
• Lost Heaven just had the grand opening for their massive four-story Bund location. Urbanatomy's I Love Shanghai blog was there to check it out. [Urbanatomy]
• Shanghai has started selling World Expo-themed welfare lottery tickets, with a top prize of 300,000RMB. All profits will be donated to the earthquake-affected areas of Sichuan. [Xinhua]

As much as we want the high-speed railway that will shorten the travel time between Shanghai and Beijing to just four hours to be finished, we'd rather it get done a little slower if it means we can prevent the startling amount of worker accidents that have been happening. Most recently, four workers were crushed to death and two others were injured when a 10-ton crane crashed into another crane during a heavy rainstorm. In March, seven workers were buried when the railway construction site in Jiangsu collapsed. Are worker deaths this frequent in other parts of the world too? Source: Shanghai Daily more ›

All hail the Beijing-Shanghai railway! The bullet train runnin' monstrosity, which will cut the commute between China's two biggest cities down from 10 hours to four, is on the track for completion in 2011 and for operation by 2012. Already, its projected to be one of the busiest and most profitable railways in China... nay, the world! As proof, an official said that a similar high-speed line, the Beijing to Tianjin route, sells out over 70% of its tickets and will recover the cost of building in about 16 years. Besides being able to rub its profitability in Amtrack's face, we couldn't give a hoot about the finances. We're just excited that we'll be able to take by-train day trips to Beijing in the near future. more ›