4月18日早晨5时38分，由上海站开出的上海至苏州D460次动车组列车，将成为中国首列正式开出时速200公里的旅客列车，它将揭开中国铁路高速时代的序幕。国产化动车组列车时速200公里，部分区段将达250公里。 中国铁路六次大提速：第一次提速——睡一觉,就可以从广州来到北京（1997年4月1日）；第二次提速——广深大提速，铁路终甩“亏损帽”（1998年10月1日）；第三次提速——上海人可以提前一天吃上新疆的哈密瓜（2000年10月21日）；第四次提速——合资铁路公司管辖的铁路第一次纳入提速范围（2001年10月21日）；第五次提速——“Z”字头列车开通，夕发朝至一站不停（2004年4月18日）；第六次提速——国产化动车组列车最高时速250公里（2007年4月18日）。

Brand new homemade high-speed trains CRH are seen at a railway station in Jinan, East China's Shandong Province, April 12, 2007. The CRH trains which could run at least 200km per hour, will serve on high speed routes between major cities after the sixth nationwide railway speedup from April 18. [Xinhua]

A train designed to run at a speed of 200 km per hour left east China's Shanghai for Suzhou early Wednesday morning, ushering in a high-speed era for the world's fastest growing economy.

Nationwide, 140 pairs of high-speed trains with a speed of 200 km per hour or a faster speed will begin to hit the railways on Wednesday. The number will increase to 257 by the end of this year.

Numbered D460, the train left Shanghai at 5:38 a.m. and is expected to arrive in Suzhou 39 minutes later.

Wednesday marks the the beginning of the sixth "speed boost" of Chinese railways, which has been hard-pressed to cope with the country's hunger for bigger transport capacity.

Chinese railway officials said last year, China fulfilled a quarter of the world's total railway transport volume on railways accounting for only 6 percent of the world's total length.

"The sixth speed lift will boost passenger capacity and cargo capacity by over 18 percent and over 12 percent respectively," said Hu Yadong, vice-minister of railways.

（Xinhua） 

（英语点津陈蓓编辑）