paragraph_text: Some international railway services to Continental Europe were operated during the 20th century as boat trains, such as the Admiraal de Ruijter to Amsterdam and the Night Ferry to Paris and Brussels. The opening of the Channel Tunnel in 1994 connected London directly to the continental rail network, allowing Eurostar services to begin. Since 2007, high-speed trains link St. Pancras International with Lille, Paris, Brussels and European tourist destinations via the High Speed 1 rail link and the Channel Tunnel. The first high-speed domestic trains started in June 2009 linking Kent to London. There are plans for a second high speed line linking London to the Midlands, North West England, and Yorkshire.

paragraph_text: The Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), now called High Speed 1, runs 69 miles (111 km) from St Pancras railway station in London to the tunnel portal at Folkestone in Kent. It cost £5.8 billion. On 16 September 2003 the prime minister, Tony Blair, opened the first section of High Speed 1, from Folkestone to north Kent. On 6 November 2007 the Queen officially opened High Speed 1 and St Pancras International station, replacing the original slower link to Waterloo International railway station. High Speed 1 trains travel at up to 300 km / h (186 mph), the journey from London to Paris taking 2 hours 15 minutes, to Brussels 1 hour 51 minutes.

paragraph_text: The Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL), now called High Speed 1, runs 69 miles (111 km) from St Pancras railway station in London to the tunnel portal at Folkestone in Kent. It cost £5.8 billion. On 16 September 2003 the prime minister, Tony Blair, opened the first section of High Speed 1, from Folkestone to north Kent. On 6 November 2007 the Queen officially opened High Speed 1 and St Pancras International station, replacing the original slower link to Waterloo International railway station. High Speed 1 trains travel at up to 300 km/h (186 mph), the journey from London to Paris taking 2 hours 15 minutes, to Brussels 1 hour 51 minutes.In 1994, the American Society of Civil Engineers elected the tunnel as one of the seven modern Wonders of the World. In 1995, the American magazine Popular Mechanics published the results.

paragraph_text: The Beijing -- Shanghai High - Speed Railway (or Jinghu High - Speed Railway from its Chinese name) is a 1,318 - kilometre (819 mi) long high - speed railway that connects two major economic zones in the People's Republic of China, the Bohai Economic Rim and the Yangtze River Delta. Construction began on April 18, 2008, and a ceremony to mark the completion of track laying was held on November 15, 2010. The line opened to the public for commercial service on June 30, 2011. This rail line is the world's longest high - speed line ever constructed in a single phase. It is China's most profitable high speed rail line, reporting a 6.6 billion yuan net operational profit in 2015.

paragraph_text: State planning for high - speed railway began in the early 1990s, and the country's first high - speed rail line, the Qinhuangdao -- Shenyang Passenger Railway, was built in 1999 and opened to commercial operation in 2003. This line could accommodate commercial trains running at up to 200 km / h (120 mph). Planners also considered Germany's Transrapid maglev technology and built the Shanghai Maglev Train, which runs on a 30.5 km (19.0 mi) track linking the city and its international airport. The maglev train service began operating in 2004 with trains reaching a top speed of 431 km / h (268 mph), and remains the fastest high - speed service in the world. Maglev, however, was not adopted nationally and all subsequent expansion features high - speed rail on conventional tracks.

paragraph_text: Under former Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun, the railway line was the first one designed for a maximum speed of 380 km / h in commercial operations. The non-stop train from Beijing South to Shanghai Hongqiao was expected to finish the 1,305 kilometres (811 mi) journey in 3 hours and 58 minutes, averaging 329 kilometres per hour (204 mph), making it the fastest scheduled train in the world, compared to 9 hours and 49 minutes on the fastest trains running on the parallel conventional railway. But following Liu Zhijun's dismissal in February 2011, several major changes were announced. First, trains would be slowed to a maximum speed of 300 km / h (186 mph), reducing operating costs. At this speed, the fastest trains would take 4 hours and 48 minutes to travel from Beijing South to Shanghai Hongqiao, making one stop at Nanjing South. Additionally, a slower class of trains running at 250 km / h (155 mph) would be operated, making more stops and charging lower fares. On September 21, 2017, 350 km / h operation was restored with the introduction of China Standardized EMU, reducing travel times between Beijing and Shanghai to about 4 hours 30 minutes on the fastest scheduled trains.

paragraph_text: The Gaisal train disaster occurred on 2 August 1999, when two trains carrying approximately 2,500 people collided at the remote station of Gaisal, Uttar Dinajpur, West Bengal, approximately 19 kilometers from Kishanganj Station . The crash involved such high speeds that the trains exploded upon impact, killing at least 290 people.

paragraph_text: InterCity 125 was the brand name of British Rail's diesel - powered High Speed Train (HST) fleet, which was built from 1975 to 1982 and was introduced in 1976. An InterCity 125 train is made up of two Class 43 power cars, one at each end of a fixed formation of Mark 3 carriages (the number of carriages varies by operator). The train operates at speeds of up to 125 mph (201 km / h) in regular service, and has an absolute maximum speed of 148 mph (238 km / h), making it the fastest diesel - powered train in the world, a record it has held from its introduction to the present day. Initially the sets were classified as Classes 253 and 254. A variant of the power cars operates in Australia as part of the XPT.

paragraph_text: Nanjing is an important railway hub in eastern China. It serves as rail junction for the Beijing-Shanghai (Jinghu) (which is itself composed of the old Jinpu and Huning Railways), Nanjing–Tongling Railway (Ningtong), Nanjing–Qidong (Ningqi), and the Nanjing-Xian (Ningxi) which encompasses the Hefei–Nanjing Railway. Nanjing is connected to the national high-speed railway network by Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway and Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu Passenger Dedicated Line, with several more high-speed rail lines under construction.

paragraph_text: The Duronto Express trains introduced in 2009 (which run between major cities without any intermediate halts) are projected to be the fastest trains in India when new services are introduced with a higher speed limit of 120 - 130 km / h. Despite being limited to a lower speed limit, they take as much time as a Rajdhani or Shatabdi on the same route, courtesy the non-stop nature of their journey. Rajdhani Express which was introduced in 1969 to connect New Delhi with the state capitals in India, travels at speeds up to 130 km / h.

paragraph_text: Harmans is an unincorporated community in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. Amtrak's Northeast Corridor high-speed rail line runs through the community, however Amtrak and MARC trains do not stop as there is no station.

paragraph_text: The TGV Duplex is a French high-speed train of the TGV family, manufactured by Alstom, and operated by the French national railway company SNCF. It is unique among TGV trains in that it features bi-level carriages. The Duplex inaugurated the third generation of TGV trainsets. It was specially designed to increase capacity on high-speed lines with saturated traffic. With two seating levels and a seating capacity of 508 passengers, the Duplex increases the passenger capacity. While the TGV Duplex started as a small component of the TGV fleet, it has become one of the system's workhorses.

paragraph_text: The Shanghai–Hangzhou high-speed railway (), also known as the Huhang high-speed railway or Huhang passenger railway is a high-speed rail line in China between Shanghai and Hangzhou, Zhejiang. The line is in length and designed for commercial train service at . It was built in 20 months and opened on October 26, 2010. The line shortened travel time between the two cities from 78 to 45 minutes. The line is also used by trains departing Shanghai's terminals for Nanchang, Changsha, Guiyang, and Kunming making it part of the Shanghai–Kunming High-Speed Railway. It has made the proposed Shanghai–Hangzhou Maglev Line unlikely.

paragraph_text: Aix-en-Provence TGV is a high speed railway station located in Cabriès, Bouches-du-Rhône, southern France. The station was opened in 2001 and is located on the LGV Méditerranée. The train services are operated by SNCF. It serves the city of Aix-en-Provence, 15 km north-east of the station, Vitrolles, northern Marseille, 20 km south of the station and the Marseilles Provence international airport.

paragraph_text: DC systems (especially third-rail systems) are limited to relatively low voltages and this can limit the size and speed of trains and cannot use low-level platform and also limit the amount of air-conditioning that the trains can provide. This may be a factor favouring overhead wires and high-voltage AC, even for urban usage. In practice, the top speed of trains on third-rail systems is limited to 100 mph (160 km/h) because above that speed reliable contact between the shoe and the rail cannot be maintained.

paragraph_text: The KTX-Sancheon is a South Korean high-speed train built by Hyundai Rotem in the second half of the 2000s and operated by Korail since March 2009. With a top speed of , the KTX-Sancheon is the second commercial high-speed train operated in South Korea and the first domestic high-speed train that is designed and developed in South Korea.

paragraph_text: Wu was born in Shanghai. She started gymnastic training in 1973, and was admitted into Shanghai gymnastic team in 1976, and Chinese national team in 1977.

paragraph_text: The Santiago de Compostela derailment occurred on 24 July 2013, when an Alvia high-speed train travelling from Madrid to Ferrol, in the north-west of Spain, derailed at high speed on a bend about outside of the railway station at Santiago de Compostela. Out of 222 people (218 passengers and 4 crew) on board, around 140 were injured and 80 died.

paragraph_text: India does not have any railways that can be classified as high - speed rail (HSR) by international standards, i.e. railways with operational speeds exceeding 200 km / h (120 mph). The current fastest train in India is the Gatimaan Express with a top speed of 160 km / h (99 mph), which only runs between Delhi and Jhansi.

paragraph_text: With the chance to return to his hometown and join reigning champions Beijing Guoan, Wang Xiaolong would make the switch from Shandong to Beijing at the beginning of the 2010 league season with teammate Wu Hao in a package deal.

Question: How long does the high speed train take from Shanghai to the birthplace of Wang Xiaolong?
Answer: 4 hours 30 minutes on the fastest scheduled trains