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An acquaintance of mine posted to WeChat last week that her flight to Beijing from another Chinese city was delayed. She expressed shock over it on the instant messaging app.
Her sarcasm was not lost on me.
In 2016, the average delay time for flights in the country was 33 minutes. An official of the Civil Aviation Administration of China told Chinese media that the goal this year was to maintain an overall punctuality rate of 75 percent. Recently, measures such as decongesting routes were also announced.
And while we wait for an end to flight delays, the next-generation high-speed trains are expected to boost overland travel in China.
Called Fuxing (rejuvenation), the new trains are capable of touching a speed of 400 kilometers per hour and an average speed of 350 kmph.
The country has developed a traction system that will allow trains to run at such speeds.
A Fuxing train debuted in June on the Beijing-Shanghai line, cutting down travel time between the two cities by 50 minutes or so. This line is the country's busiest railroad connecting two major economic zones, which are associated with the water bodies of Bohai and Yangtze.
Ahead of the National Day holiday week that begins on Oct 1, more such trains were running on the same line.
Millions of Chinese travel during the week, making it an annual peak time for public transport.
The earlier Hexie (harmony) high-speed trains can reach up to 300 kmph.
China had capped top train speed at about 180 kmph for a while after a fatal high-speed rail crash in Wenzhou, East China’s Zhejiang province, in 2011.
Since it started operating in 2007, the country's high-speed rail network has become the longest in the world, covering more than 20,000 km.
Chinese media said another 10,000 km would be added by 2020.
The country has spent $360 billion on high-speed trains, according to the Associated Press.
Punctuality, in my experience, is a defining feature of China's high-speed rail network. But I cannot say the same about air travel even after a four-year stay here.
Besides, rail and road travel, in my opinion, allow reporters a greater glimpse of the countryside.
In addition to fast trains, China is now building a rail track from Sichuan province to the Tibet autonomous region in the southwest, which at 4,400 meters above sea level will be among the world’s highest public transport systems.
Railway development in China picked up after economic reforms were initiated in the late 1970s.
A network that was built toward the end of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), was expanded in the 1950s after New China was founded, but mostly relied on steam locomotives back then.
While Chinese are now familiar with fast trains in white and gray colors zipping through big cities, some olden-day green trains are still in circulation in parts of the country. Last year, I sighted one in Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou province, also in the southwest. A high-speed track is in the works in the province, too, but to me, slow trains retain a certain draw.
About the author & broadcaster
Satarupa Bhattacharjya is a senior editor at China Daily. A longtime news reporter in India and Sri Lanka, she now writes stories of transition in China, mostly in the smaller towns.
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