Bullet train in China favored by those fed up with airport delays

Bullet train service from Shanghai to Beijing, China is gaining favor among airline passengers who have been irritated by frequent airport delays.

It will take less than five hours for passengers to travel the 1,318- kilometer route using the bullet train service between the two cities, much longer than the two-hour flight by most airlines.

However, one in four flights in China end up getting delayed and that doubles the entire travel time. Passengers are increasingly fed up with the hassles at the airport and the aircraft cabin and would want to experience a much smoother ride instead.

The bullet train service will begin at the end of June. It cost 221 billion yuan ($34 billion) to build and expected to transport 80 million passengers annually. It can travel up to 350 kilometers per hour but the Chinese rail ministry capped the maximum at 300 to offset some of the ticket prices.

Dubbed the "Jinghu" or "Beijing-Shanghai" line, the bullet train project is the biggest among other  high-speed rail lines collectively worth 2 trillion yuan. The fresh investment will bring up the total of China's bullet train network to 16,000 kilometers in five years.

China's aggressive expansion into high-speed rail has the country's domestic airlines worried because many passengers will now prefer to ride trains rather than fly. But on the other hand, it can also relieve some congestion in airports, thereby making delays few and far between.

Chinese rail authorities want to further strengthen the appeal of bullet train service to travelers by making the tickets cheaper as ridership grows.