The record was reportedly secured on a section of the 1318km line between Zaozhuang city in Shandong province and Bengbu city in Anhui province. The Beijing - Shanghai high-speed line is scheduled to open on October 1 2011 over a year ahead of schedule as China presses ahead with its ambitious plans to operate a 16,000km high-speed network by 2020.
 
Xinhua News Agency claims that this is the fastest speed ever recorded by an unmodified conventional commercial train. The current world speed record for rail of 574.8km/h was set in 2007 by a heavily modified French TGV train.
 
Read a full report on China's high-speed rail projects in the December 2010 issue of IRJ.