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China slows train speeds, cuts ticket prices

Xinhua, August 28, 2011

• China started to implement a new operation plan for all bullet trains across the country on Sunday, rescheduling trains to run at slower speeds over safety concerns.

  Over the course of more than a month, railway authorities have readjusted the operation plan of railways after a deadly train collision killed 40 people in the city of Wenzhou in east China's Zhejiang Province on July 23.

  The rescheduled plan involves 498 trains and major rail lines such as Beijing-Harbin, Beijing-Guangzhou, Beijing-Shanghai and Lianyungang-Lanzhou lines, according to the Ministry of Railways (MOR).

  As of earlier this month, high-speed trains traveling between Beijing and Tianjin and between Shanghai and Hangzhou have been run at 300 km per hour, down from 350 km per hour.

  The readjustments for Beijing-Tianjin intercity high-speed railway, Hainan east ring line and Guangzhou-Zhuhai intercity rail went into effect on Aug. 16 with the numbers of bullet trains in service unchanged.

  Other high-speed lines adopted the new plan on Aug. 28.

  After the readjustments, lines that had trains running at 250 km per hour, will run them at 200 km per hour, including high-speed lines between Hefei and Nanjing, Hefei and Wuhan, Shijiazhuang and Taiyuan and other lines.

  CRH trains that run at 200 km per hour will be slowed to 160 km per hour, it added. Ticket prices will be reduced by 5 percent on the affected lines, according to the MOR.

  The State Council, China's Cabinet, ordered overall safety checks on high-speed railways after the fatal train accident and suspended approval of new railway construction projects.

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