The vice president China’s policy and development said at Amtrak that China's investment in high-speed trains will push it into a leadership role in the industry.

According to the report of The New York Times, Amtrak executive Stephen Gardner said, "The sheer volume of equipment that they will require and the technology that will have to be

developed will simply catapult them into a leadership position."

The deputy chief engineer of China's railway ministry Zhang Shuguang said,“ China will have 42 separate high speed train routes by 2012 with 5,000 miles of track that can accommodate 155

mph trains and 3,000 miles that can handle trains running 215 mph.”

Currently, the fastest bullet train in China runs from Guangzhou to Wuhan, traveling 664 miles at and average speed of 215 mph.

By comparison, in the United States, the first high speed train is scheduled to open in 2014, an 84-mile jaunt from Tampa to Orlando, Fla., in a train that will run about 170 mph.