With all due respect to OOE, he does tend to get insanely opinionated. Not to mention your comment is kind of a flame-bait. Stop seeking fights where none are required. You are getting plenty anyway.
I hope the travel times really are cut by 50%, last time I had the misfortune of travelling in a train from Karachi-Lahore, it took 18 freaking hours!!! Because we were unable to book a cabin, we had to sit in a regular seat...boy now I know how B-52 pilots must feel like by the time they land from a long mission.
it's not the worst sanke, I ever tried the railway from Guangzhou to Beijing 7 years ago,which took my 29 hrs, and what's even worse, one fat guy in our 4-berth cabin kept snoring louder than the train. I've been taken airplane ever since, 2 hours and a half.