Yesterday was a big deal for high-speed trains in China. Not only did it mark the first trial operation of a real train on the Yangtze River Shanghai-Nanjing High-speed Railway, it also heralded in an era for continuous 5G connectivity for passengers thereon.
昨天对于中国高铁来说是一件大事。这不仅标志着长江沪宁高铁首次实车试运营，也预示着乘客的5G持续连接时代即将到来。
But there are a few catches, of course. Before that, the headlines today on media across the Yangtze River Delta are dominated by the commencement of trial operations. Yesterday, it was the G55301 service from Nanjing South Railway Station to Taicang Station which brought us to within 1 month of being able to experience the new route for ourselves.
但当然也有一些问题。在此之前，今日长三角各媒体的头条新闻都是关于试运营的启动。昨天，正是南京南站至太仓站的G55301次航班，让我们在1个月内就能亲身体验新航线。
The line stands out for it being many firsts, not least among which the 5G connectivity that is being touted, together with the technological innovations which have made it possible. These were first advertised by the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Transportation in February of this year, as this publication reported at the time.
该系列产品因其多项第一而脱颖而出，尤其是备受推崇的 5G 连接，以及使其成为可能的技术创新。据本刊当时报道，江苏省交通运输厅于今年 2 月首次发布了这些广告。
When it comes to 5G, there are two challenges. 5G signals, being of high frequency, don’t penetrate much, except perhaps the leaves of trees. So inconvenient stuff along railway lines, such as stations, get in the way and block the signals.
谈到5G，有两个挑战。 5G 信号频率较高，穿透能力不强，除了树叶之外。因此，铁路沿线的不便设施（例如车站）会妨碍并阻挡信号。
Then there is the range of 5G, typically 1.6 to 5 kilometres, but that’s just for the low and mid-band spectrum traffic, i.e. that not significantly faster than 4G on a good day. The really fast 5G really doesn’t travel far, and ideally you need to be, like, the only one on the network if you are to “download a movie in 4 seconds”.
然后是 5G 的范围，通常为 1.6 至 5 公里，但这仅适用于低频段和中频段频谱流量，即在天气好的时候不会比 4G 快很多。真正快的 5G 确实不会传输太远，理想情况下，如果你想“在 4 秒内下载一部电影”，你需要成为网络上唯一的人。
So realising this on a train hurtling from Nanjing to Shanghai at north of 300 km/h is a challenge. And one illustrated best by that encountered on the Gehu section of the Changzhou Super Bridge on the Yangtze River Shanghai-Nanjing High-speed Railway.
因此，在以 300 公里/小时的速度从南京开往上海的火车上实现这一点是一个挑战。最能说明问题的就是长江沪宁高铁常州特大桥葛湖段的遭遇。
That’s 8.5 kilometres across open water; no 5G base station in sight. Engineers for the new line solved this by literally putting the base station in the track.
开阔水域的长度为 8.5 公里；看不到5G基站。新线路的工程师通过将基站放置在轨道上解决了这个问题。
The main line of the Yangtze River Shanghai-Nanjing High-speed Railway has a total length of 275.174 kilometres, and to realise that 100-percent 5G connectivity, 64 communication towers were newly built.
长江沪宁高铁主线全长275.174公里，为实现100%5G连通，新建64座通信塔。
According to the Yangtze Evening News, there were also a total of 1,462.364 kilometers of fiber-optic cables installed to ensure both the trains’ safety at high speeds and passengers’ fast and free Internet access.
据扬子晚报报道，为保证列车高速安全和旅客快速免费上网，还安装了总计1,462.364公里的光缆。
