Gulp! That was my reaction when I read the news a few days ago about China's new high-speed train derailing on a run from Hangzhou that killed 39 people.
I was supposed to be on that train from Hangzhou!
When I arrived in Beijing last week, newspapers and TV news shows were filled with horror stories concerning breakdowns involving the new high-speed trains - billed as the fastest in the world - which stopped unexpectedly in the middle of nowhere with passengers trapped inside sweltering hot cars waiting for help. In the four days I was in Beijing, the high speed train to Shanghai broke down three times.
One TV news report I watched had passengers shouting at young attendants who broke down in tears - foreign tourists actually came to the aid of the distraught railway employees and pushed the angry Chinese passengers away.
The breakdowns were the reason why I decided to take a car from Hangzhou to Shanghai instead of taking the train - a three hour journey which would have been covered in less than an hour on the rails.
When I read about the derailment, I was shocked - that could have been me.
China is racing into high-speed train travel at breakneck speed - literally - and someone in authority has to put the brakes on this expansion until all safety concerns are met. China's aim is to export its high-speed train technology around the world (it's currently building a line in Turkey and hopes to sell trains to British Rail) but this latest incident, which cost 39 innocent people their lives, may have other countries rethinking the purchases.
Slow down China and do things right!
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