Pictures: Chinese High-Speed Rail in Focus

Farms Taking a Hit

Photograph by Michael Yamashita, National Geographic

Farms in the countryside between China's biggest cities have seen the largest impacts of rail construction. When engineers connect two cities, the straight line between them is developed for tracking and tunnels.

Farmer Ye Shaoguang (not pictured) said that the rail system shows China's industrial heft. But his mother-in-law worries that the vibrations from nearby explosions could destroy their house.

Published October 5, 2012

Guangzhou South Station

Photograph by Michael Yamashita, National Geographic

Guangzhou South Station opened in 2010 to help shuttle travelers to the northern city of Wuhan. Along the route, trains can reach 220 miles (354 kilometers) an hour.

In the case of Guangzhou, train travel is fast, but not always convenient. The station is an hour from town, while the airport is nearly half that distance.

Published October 5, 2012

Assembling the Train

Photograph by Michael Yamashita, National Geographic

Factory workers assemble the superfast 380A train model at Qingdao Sifang Locomotive and Rolling Stock Company, the country's largest and oldest train manufacturer. The factory employs 8,000 people.

While some have charged that technology for the 380A and other models was pirated from the West and Japan, officials deny the charge. Yet the quickness of China's development has cast some doubt on the origins of Chinese leaps in technological know-how.

Published October 5, 2012

Hauling Coal

Photograph by Michael Yamashita, National Geographic

As China's rail technology grows, coal remains a dominant industry in China.

While electric trains shuttle passengers between large cities, steam locomotives like the ones above are still used to haul coal to power plants that generate the electricity.

Published October 5, 2012

Packed Train

Photograph by Michael Yamashita, National Geographic

Fast trains are for the elite, but the working classes in China still use steam locomotives to travel between smaller cities.

The Jiayang steam train (pictured), a relic from the 1950s, is one of the last regularly operating passenger steam trains in China.

The train connects six villages along the Bajiao Valley in Sichuan Province, a distance of only 14 miles (23 kilometers). The train operates four trips a day, each of them crowded, a conductor told National Geographic reporter Ian Johnson.

Published October 5, 2012

Letting Off Some Steam

Photograph by Michael Yamashita, National Geographic

High-speed electric trains are expected to eventually replace slower steam locomotives like those pictured here in the Fuxing region of China. Many regions still use the steam trains to shuttle coal and coal waste from mines to power plants, and then to ash fields.

Published October 5, 2012

Heading Home

Photograph by Michael Yamashita, National Geographic

Aboard a train to Zhengzhou, groups of students head back to school in September after the summer break.

The back-to-school period is the second busiest travel time in China, behind the annual Chinese New Year celebrations in the spring, when migrant workers traditionally return home.

Published October 5, 2012

Just a Blur

Photograph by Michael Yamashita, National Geographic

Leaving stations, high-speed Chinese trains can quickly accelerate to more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) an hour.

Published October 5, 2012

Next: A Rare Look Inside China's Energy Machine

Photograph by Toby Smith, Reportage by Getty Images

Published October 5, 2012