BEIJING — China has entered the high-speed-rail era. The signs are hard to miss.
"Sixth national speed-up," proclaims a red banner the size of a Sunset Strip billboard in the middle of the Beijing train station. "Harmonious, made-in-China" bullet trains.
In the station in Tianjin, posters of smiling families in first-class seats line the walls, under the heading "Pursuit of Harmony."
In a country where vacation season means two or three passengers for every seat, improvements to the rail system are heralded with great fanfare.
On April 18, two weeks before one of the nation's busiest weeklong holidays, 280 domestically made high-speed passenger trains were added to China's crowded and outdated tracks.
Traveling 60 mph faster than most of their predecessors, the trains can cut travel time by a third and will add about 300,000 seats a day, state media reported. A record 150 million travelers were projected during the May Day holiday week.
Upgrading to high speed isn't cheap. The tickets cost as much as 50% more than those for conventional trains.
Already, the Internet is awash in criticism that the new service is out of the reach of migrant workers and others who need it most.
Nothing comes easy for China's transportation system, which has been overwhelmed by the nation's staggering economic growth.
Experts say China's 48,000 miles of railway meet just 60% of freight service demand. Passenger trains carry 3 million travelers daily, except during the three Golden Week holidays, when the system is even more crowded. Horror stories abound of price gouging and of passengers in adult diapers having to stand for 30-hour journeys -- if they're lucky enough to get a ticket.
"Our transportation system has always been behind and it greatly hinders the development of our economy," said Ji Jialun, a professor at Beijing Transportation University. "It's a bottleneck. It's good the government has realized it, but we don't have enough money to build new lines."
The increasing industrial demands and mobility of China's 1.3 billion people have led the government to plan for 14 new national highways and the expansion of 12 major seaports and 10 airports, including those in Shanghai and Beijing, by 2010, the New China News Agency reported.
An 82-foot rapid-transit vehicle -- with room for 300 passengers, it's reportedly the world's largest bus -- was exhibited in March at a Shanghai convention and will be used in Beijing and Hangzhou.
