STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 26 December 2012

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30. WORLD'S LONGEST FAST TRAIN LINE OPENS IN CHINA

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_HIGH_SPEED_TRAIN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-12-26-07-17-23

BEIJING (AP) -- China on Wednesday opened the world's longest high-speed rail line that more than halves the time required to travel from the country's capital in the north to Guangzhou, an economic hub in southern China.

The opening of the 2,298 kilometer (1,428 mile)-line was commemorated by the 9 a.m. departure of a train from Beijing for Guangzhou. Another train left Guangzhou for Beijing an hour later.

China has massive resources and considerable prestige invested in its showcase high-speed railways program.

But it has in recent months faced high-profile problems: part of a line collapsed in central China after heavy rains in March, while a bullet train crash in the summer of 2011 killed 40 people. The former railway minister, who spearheaded the bullet train's construction, and the ministry's chief engineer, were detained in an unrelated corruption investigation months before the crash.