Asked by a visitor last year why their new high-speed train was to be called the CRH380, engineers at Chinese locomotive manufacturer CSR Sifang laughed. Because the trains would operate at up to 380km/h of course, they said.

　　去年，一位到訪者問到：為什么中國新型的高速列車名為CRH380？中國機車制造商南車四方(CSR Sifang)的工程師們聽到后笑了。他們回答說，這當然是因為列車的最高運行時速為380公里。

　　This week, sleek new CRH380s – the CRH stands for China Railway High-speed – will begin commercial service between Beijing and Shanghai. But China’s railway mandarins may be regretting their choice of name.

　　本周，嶄新亮麗的CRH380列車——CRH是“中國鐵道高速列車”(China Railway High-speed)的縮寫——將開始在京滬線投入商業(yè)運營。但是，中國鐵道部官員恐怕正后悔取了“CRH380”這個名字。

　　Far from clocking in at what would be world-beating 380km/h, the new services are to be capped at 300km/h. That is still a highly impressive pace, but – whisper it – no faster than the swiftest Shinkansen trains operating in neighbouring Japan.

　　新列車的最高時速并沒有采用全球最高的380公里，而是限定在每小時300公里。這個速度依然相當極其驚人，但——小聲點兒——并不比鄰國日本最快的“新干線”列車更快。

　　Still, while nationalists may be disappointed, the decision to hit the train brakes should be applauded.

　　盡管這或許令民族主義者們感到失望，但讓列車減速的決定值得稱贊。

　　Chinese rail executives and engineers are proud of having created in less than a decade the world’s biggest high-speed railway network, and their emergence as contenders in the global market for fast trains.

　　中國用了不到10年時間，就建成了全球最大的高鐵網(wǎng)絡，并在國際高速列車市場上占據(jù)了一席之地，這讓中國鐵道部官員和工程師們備感驕傲。

　　But as this column noted last year, that success is clouded by safety concerns and doubts about the extent to which CSR Sifang and other domestic manufacturers of 380-series trains remain reliant on recently acquired foreign technologies.

　　然而，正如本專欄在去年指出的，上述成功的背后陰云重重：人們擔心高鐵的安全性，且滿腹狐疑，不知道生產(chǎn)380系列動車的南車四方等國內(nèi)制造商對近年才獲得的外國技術仍有多大程度的依賴。

　　It is not only cynical foreigners who are worried, as shown by extraordinarily frank comments from Zhou Yimin, former deputy director of the Chinese rail ministry’s high speed department, published in local media this month.

　　對此感到擔憂的不光是疑心重的外國人。原鐵道部高速辦副主任周翊民本月在國內(nèi)媒體上發(fā)表的異常坦率的言論，就是例證。

　　Mr Zhou said the 380km/h target and the 350km/h operating speed put in place on other Chinese trunk lines until recently constituted a dangerous “fabrication” imposed on the orders of now-disgraced former rail minister Liu Zhijun.

　　周翊民表示，此前國內(nèi)其他高鐵線路實行的350-380公里時速是不顧安全系數(shù)的“造假”，是如今名譽掃地的原鐵道部部長劉志軍的旨意。

　　Chinese officials and train manufacturers have claimed such record-breaking operational speeds were the result of “digesting” and improving upon technology acquired from Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Germany’s Siemens, France’s Alstom and Canada’s Bombardier.

　　中國政府官員和列車制造商均表示，這種破紀錄的運行時速，是“消化”和改進從日本川崎重工(Kawasaki Heavy Industries)、德國西門子(Siemens)、法國阿爾斯通(Alstom)和加拿大龐巴迪(Bombardier)等外國公司所購買技術的結果。

　　Mr Zhou said trains built by units of China’s two big manufacturing groups China North Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corp (CNR) and China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corp (CSR) actually went faster merely by “eating into the safety tolerances” of the originals.

　　周翊民表示，中國兩大機車制造集團——中國北車股份有限公司(CNR)和中國南車股份有限公司(CSR)——旗下公司生產(chǎn)的列車之所以跑得比外國列車更快，其實是因為“吃掉安全余量”。

　　Even more scarily, Mr Zhou said authorities hushed up technical failures that ranged from unscheduled stops due to track subsidence and equipment covers that fall off.

　　更令人驚駭?shù)氖牵荞疵癖硎?，當局有意隱瞞各種技術故障，如由于軌道沉降和設備的蓋子掉落而臨時停車。

　　“In fact, there are often small problems on some lines – and some problems that look small but actually are not – but all of them are being kept secret,” Mr Zhou was quoted as saying by the 21st Century Business Herald. “我們目前這幾條高速鐵路小問題常有，有些問題看來小，實際不小，但都保密。”《21世紀經(jīng)濟報道》援引周翊民的話表示。

　　It is not easy to judge how dangerous Chinese high-speed trains might be. Revelations earlier this year that nearly $30m of funds budgeted for the Beijing-Shanghai line were misappropriated last year are not reassuring, given the risk that corner cutting could undermine safety.

　　中國高速列車可能會有多大危險不好判斷。今年早些時候曝出的去年京滬高鐵項目有近3000萬美元資金遭挪用的消息，無法讓人感到放心，因為偷工減料有可能影響高鐵的安全性。

　　But a Japanese executive familiar with high-speed rail projects says Chinese high-speed lines show impressive smoothness of ride – a sign of engineering quality. And he says the Japanese E2-1000 Shinkansen – on which one type of the new CRH380 trains was based – was originally designed with very generous safety tolerances.

　　不過，一位對高鐵項目頗為熟悉的日本高管表示，中國高鐵在運行中非常平穩(wěn)，讓人印象深刻——這是工程質量的體現(xiàn)。他還表示，日本的E2-1000新干線列車——有一款新型CRH380列車就是在該款列車基礎上生產(chǎn)出來的——在起初的設計上留出了很大的安全冗余。

　　Chinese lines are also less busy than those in Japan, where at peak times Shinkansen rush along the main line between Tokyo and Osaka every three or four minutes. “As long as their service is at 15 or 20 minute intervals, I think maybe there is not a problem,” the executive says.

　　此外，中國高鐵線路也沒有日本新干線那樣繁忙。東京至大阪的主干線在高峰時每三、四分鐘發(fā)一趟車。“只要他們發(fā)車的間隔保持在15-20分鐘，我想也許不會有問題。”

　　Beijing has been at pains to reassure passengers, with state media citing “substantial laboratory data” as showing train safety is “fully guaranteed”.

　　中國政府苦口婆心地安撫乘客，國有媒體引用了“大量的實驗室數(shù)據(jù)”，以證明高鐵列車的安全性“完全有保障”。

　　Still, the most important signal that safety is being taken seriously is the willingness of Sheng Guangzu, the new Chinese rail minister, to cut operating speeds – no small matter given the sensitivity of taming a programme seen as a matter of national pride.

　　不過，安全性受到重視的最重要信號，是新任鐵道部長盛光祖竟然肯降低高鐵運行時速——這絕非小事，一個被認為事關國家面子的項目受到修剪，是一件非常敏感的事情。

　　The slowdown may prove hard to sustain – one official said this week selected lines would continue to run at 350km/h, while some journalists on a Beijing-Shanghai run this week reported that their train at times exceeded 300km/h.

　　減速或許將難以維持下去。一位官員本周表示，個別線路將繼續(xù)按照350公里的時速運行。本周乘坐北京至上海高鐵的一些記者報道稱，他們所坐的列車時速有時候超過了300公里。

　　But Mr Sheng’s order should be enforced and should signal a more measured approach to high-speed rail. Time is needed to knit together and test signalling and management systems and to build quality infrastructure. A solid track-record at home will be the best basis for future overseas success. China’s high-speed train sector should make haste slowly.

　　但盛光祖的命令應該得到落實，并傳遞出一種以更慎重態(tài)度對待高鐵的信號。揉合各家技術、試驗信號和管理系統(tǒng)，以及建設高質量基礎設施，是需要時間的。在國內(nèi)取得良好的記錄，是將來在海外獲得成功的最佳基礎。中國高速列車行業(yè)應避免“欲速則不達”。