Knovel.com reported on Monday that following a series of successful tests, the Chinese government has announced that the longest high-speed rail network in the world is scheduled to start taking passengers on December 26.

The link between Beijing and Guangzhou runs for 1,428 miles and is expected to cut rail travel time between the cities to less than ten hours, as compared to the twenty hours plus the journey currently takes. Trains will travel on the high-speed track at speeds of 186 m.p.h. The opening of the line is seen by some transport analysts as a commitment by the government to ensuring that engineering resources are deployed in a number of public projects, a matter of some importance as the Chinese middle class continues to evolve

Read more about China's new high-speed railway.

Don't get me wrong, I love the United States, but I wonder if there is too much bureaucracy these days for us to get a project like this done in a hurry. What do you think?