Chinese president Xi Jinping has unveiled the country’s first hyper-fast train – a 700km-per-hour prototype that can lift up to 64 people off the track at once.
The new express trains, which run on the high-speed railway line connecting Beijing to Shanghai, are set to debut in China from 2023. The government had previously said that it would invest some $120bn (£80bn) in high-speed rail upgrades from 2016-2020.
The prototype, which runs from a suburban station in the northeastern city of Harbin to the northern city of Shenyang, includes state-of-the-art passenger facilities such as toilets and whirlpools, a mood lighting system that changes colour according to the time of day, and automatic passenger seat belts.
While the locomotive runs at a maximum speed of 480km/h, officials said it was capable of travelling as fast as 620km/h. The speed, which is equivalent to speeds of up to 268mph in a conventional car, is due to hit full effect in 2022.
Xi’s visit to Harbin on Monday was part of an 11-day tour of the east and central parts of the country intended to show his commitment to meeting President Xi Jinping’s key legislative agenda.
The high-speed rail system covers 1,100km of track between Beijing and Shanghai – a major foreign and investment destination for China.