Beijing to Shanghai in Five

302 miles per houris the speed achieved by the CRH380A, or the "Harmony" train and it is the fastest recorded by an unmodified commercial train.

Running between Beijing to Shanghai, the route has 24 stations and runs from Beijing's South railway station to a state-of-the-art facility beside Hongqiao airport in downtown Shanghai.  The project costs £21 billion and the high-speed link between the two cities is expected to double the capacity of the current line to 80 million passengers a year and halve travel time to five hours.

By 2013, China will have the world's most comprehensive high-speed railway network and 800 bullet trains. So far, China has 4 706 miles of high-speed railway, more than any other country, and by 2020 it expects to have 75 000 miles of railway, of which 10 000 miles will be high-speed rail.

Can't wait to try that out when we next visit China.  That will be one experience to remember.