World’s Longest High-Speed Rail Line

Launched in China, of course.

It used to take the best part of 24 hours to travel by train from Beijing to the southern boomtown of Guangzhou. But as of Wednesday, when the world’s longest high-speed rail line opened for business, the 1,428-mile journey has been cut to a mere eight hours. The trains travel at an average speed of 186mph, passing through five provinces as they tear through the countryside.

The new train travels the equivalent of New York City to Key West in eight hours.  It took me nine hours to drive from Key West to Orlando earlier this week.