U.S. Ambassador again praises China's high-speed rail

(ECNS) -- U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns again praised China’s high-speed rail on his Twitter account during a trip on Thursday.

Burns tweeted: “Back on 复兴号 and hurtling through the Chinese countryside at an impressive speed.”

“China’s high-speed rail is truly impressive and a great way to see the beautiful farmland, mountains and villages,” he added.

The post triggered discussion among netizens on China’s high-speed rail system.

“Have to say bullet train is the best surprise I found when I went home. It shorten my trip from the airport to home. I wish U.S. or California rather can have make it available,” a netizen said.

Another netizen said: “When I travelled through China it was in cars with frilly curtains and trains/plains with curtains... 1989. A lot has changed.”

This is not the first time the ambassador has expressed his appreciation for China’s high-speed rail.

On June 12, Burns posted a photo on Twitter in which he sits by the window of a Fuxing bullet train as it arrived in central China’s Henan, saying “Just crossed the Yellow River in Henan at the rapid clip of 308/km per hour on this impressive 复兴号 train. Destination #Wuhan.”

China's Fuxing trains operate at a speed of 350 kph on 1,910-kilometer lines, including the Beijing-Shanghai, Beijing-Tianjin, Beijing-Zhangjiakou, and Chengdu-Chongqing routes.

China is the only country in the world with commercially operated high-speed rail trains that travel at 350 kph. The network stretches from northeast forests and snowy plains to the Yangtze River Delta in the south, from the northwest Gobi Desert to the eastern coast of the East China Sea, traversing rivers and mountains to reach every corner of the country.