Maybe this will be the Asian Century after all

The AP reports that "Shanghai route to get high-speed trains." From the article:

Chinese-built high-speed trains capable of speeds of up to 150 mph are to debut this weekend on runs from Shanghai to two nearby cities, a government newspaper said Friday. The trains will start operating Sunday between Shanghai and Hangzhou to the southwest and Nanjing to the west, the China Daily newspaper said, citing Railway Ministry officials.

China is investing billions of dollars in modernizing and expanding its railway network to cope with fast-growing business and tourist travel driven by a booming economy. The new trains will start out operating at 100 mph while drivers get used to the route, the China Daily said. They will speed up to 150 mph in April. "Ticket prices will not change," a Railway Ministry spokesman, Wang Yongping, was quoted as saying.

The trains were built by two Chinese-foreign joint ventures, one involving Canada's Bombardier Inc. and the other involving Japan's Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd.

A bullet train pulls in at a railway station in Shanghai January 28, 2007. The new CRH (China Railway High-speed) bullet train, which has a top speed of 250 kph (155 mph), would cut the journey time on the key Beijing-Shanghai route from nine hours to five, Xinhua News Agency said. REUTERS/Aly Song (CHINA)
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Meanwhile it appears that U.S. planning for Maglev trains is dead.