Trains – no planes or automobiles.

When I moved to Nanjing almost a year ago I kept hearing about this elusive “fast train.” I had a hard time figuring it out when it would open, but finally a few months ago the date was set for July 1st. Of course it would open after I moved from Nanjing. But lucky for me, I was one of the first people to try out the new train. I left Thursday night for my last trip to Nanjing for a while.

What used to be a 2.5-hour train ride now ranges from 73 to about 110 minutes with this new fast train. It also gets to cities close to Shanghai, like Kunshan and Suzhou, in minutes. And since more and more people are moving out to surrounding cities to avoid absurdly high housing prices in Shanghai, it probably takes about the same traveling on the fast train to get to work as it would if you were living in the outskirts of Shanghai.

And did I mention it runs off electricity? I’m all for the fast train?
 
Anyway, this description of train travel in China comes with a point: for domestic travel, I think China has got it right with its extensive train routes. By 2012, China train routes will be greater than the whole world combined. It’s efficient, cheap and reliable. And figuring the time it takes to formally check in, check bags and go through the potential hassles at the airport, train travel, in some instances, train travel could actually be faster than air travel.

And when it comes to car travel between cities, I would love to have had the option to travel by train than by car. Take Florida as an example, I can’t remember the number of times I traveled from Gainesville to Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville and Miami (just to name a few). Think of how convenient, and more environmentally friendly, it would have been to have train travel as an option? Sure there’s Amtrak, but that pales in comparison to what the Chinese have done in train travel.

That’s not to say that I don’t think air travel is a waste. How else would I be able to fly home? And would I take a train from Atlanta to New York or California? Probably not. I’ve spared my thoughts on the on-going oil spill, but in a time when the need lower dependency on oil couldn’t be any clearer, I think considering adopting fast train technology and trying to use it at home in the U.S. is a good start.