11 Hours 43 Minutes

Last night I took the sleeper train from Shanghai to Beijing. It is a non stop 160 KM/Hour fast express train linking the two cities together. The ticket costs 500 RMB or $73.

In 1980 when I took the train from Shanghai to Beijing it took more than 24 hours and stopped at every major city along the way. The ticket cost 100 RMB.

The train begins its journey slowly as it leaves the Yangtze River Valley and then speeds up to its cruising speed as it enters the plains of central China heading for the capital.

Train travel in China is the lifeblood of the nation. Passengers of all social economic classes use the train for business and pleasure.

Soon the trains will be sold out as the Spring Festival approaches - a time when (similar to Thanksgiving) when most Chinese make the trip to their home towns to see family and friends for the New Year (bearing gifts of course).

In my cabin there were four of us. All businessmen heading to Beijing. The generous quilts and central heating kept the cabin very warm. The most difficult part of the trip was the snoring from the top bunk !

With the new government infrastructure incentive program an even faster line is planned between Shanghai and Beijing that will shorten the trip to about 6 hours. Once the line is completed in 2010/2011 the two cities will be tie together even closer.

When I left my office yesterday I took the subway to the train station, boarded the train, arrived in Beijing and took the subway to my first meeting. The wonders of public transportation !

Despite the new "car culture" in China public transportation continues to expand rapidly. Without public transportation China's 1.4 billion people would be "stuck at home !"

As with most issues in China......it all comes back to managing 1.4 billion people !