China's new generation bullet train -- known as Fuxing -- is finally up and running. At 350 kilometers per hour, Fuxing is world's fastest commercially-used bullet train and will operate between the Chinese capital, Beijing and the country's chief commercial centre, Shanghai.

 

But what's it like to operate one of these trains compare to previous versions? And what kind of the drivers need to go through? Our reporter Zou Yun visited Beijing South Railway Station to find out. Getting ready for departure on the world's fastest bullet train.

 

But for these drivers, the shift to a higher gear is more about maintaining their high safety standards. Because, as the head of the drivers' team on the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed rail says technically speaking, operating the Fuxing train is actually easier than previous bullet trains.

 

ZHANG YANFEI DIRECTOR OF DRIVERS' TEAM, SHANGHAI-BEIJING HIGH-SPEED RAIL "Since the Fuxing rail absorbed the best features of the previous high-speed trains, and its technologies are fully indigenous, it's more convenient to operate. Moreover, our drivers have experience in driving high-speed trains since 2011, and have a thorough understanding of those trains. So they can pick up these new skills very quickly."

 

However, it's not just a case of hitting a start and stop button. Zhang says there's still a lot new things for the drivers to understand and the first is a tremendous amount of theoretical learning.

 

ZOU YUN BEIJING Since this theoretical learning plays such a crucial role in their training, the drivers sometimes organise competitions such as this to make the process more enjoyable.

 

But this, of course, is just a side-track to the actual learning process, and they get back to the real business soon enough.

 

ZHANG YANFEI DIRECTOR OF DRIVERS' TEAM, SHANGHAI-BEIJING HIGH-SPEED RAIL "We have over ten books to learn, and it would be impossible for over 200 drivers to read all of them under their already heavy workload. So we organized an elite team with several experienced drivers to read through all the books, take out the most important parts, and compile them into brochures to train the drivers. This is the most effective way."

 

With such a position comes real responsibility and the drivers also take plenty of onboard training to become familiar with the control panel and operating system. And, they'll also need to be able to cope with unforeseen circumstances, so this simulator places them in different scenarios and weather conditions. All these intensive preparation and efforts are just for one simple purpose: when these drivers are in charge, the passengers are at ease.Zou Yun, CGTN, BJ