Rail museum displays development track

About 50 domestic and overseas journalists visited a railway museum in Beijing on Wednesday to experience "the speed of China".

High-speed rail has become a Chinese icon.

The 2022 Beijing Media Center invited journalists from 27 media groups to join tours to learn more about Beijing as the city prepares to host the Winter Olympics.

"We're quite interested in the development of China's high-speed rail," said Liu Ruobin, a journalism assistant from Japan's TV Asahi Corp.

"We'd like to see the industry's latest technology."

He said that the museum displays many photos and pictures to illustrate the sector's progress.

The museum next to Tian'anmen Square is located inside one of China's oldest railway stations, which opened in 1906. Its exterior resembles an old European train station with a bell tower.

The museum records the history of China's railways, the development of major lines and future plans.

Senior engineer Zuo Wu from China State Railway Group, the national railway operator, said China has abundant and advanced experiences in building high-speed railways.

He said the next step is to build smart and environmentally friendly lines.

Zhao Hongwei, chief engineer of the China Academy of Railway Sciences, said the exterior of the Fuxing smart bullet train that serves the Games has been redecorated for the event.

It also has a high-definition studio for live broadcasts of interviews with athletes and officials that is supported by 5G technology, she said. The train is the first of its kind to offer HD transmissions while traveling up to 350 kilometers per hour, she added.

China's high-speed rail development ranks first in the world in many aspects. For example, the country hosts the longest network, spanning 40,000 kilometers.