In the pursuit of higher operation speed at the passenger train services in China, the impacts of highspeed operation on energy consumption and transport efficiency are however not clearly identified. This research attempts to analyze the traction energy cost and transport operation time per 10,000 passenger-kilometers of high-speed railway (HSR) trains with a range of target speeds on certain HSR lines in China through a simulation approach. Having considered the effect of inter-stop transport distances, traction characteristics of HSR trains and gradients, curvatures, etc. of the rail lines, this study has deduced that the target speed of a HSR train for an inter-stop transport distance shorter than 100 km should be below 190 km/h from the perspectives of traction energy saving and transport efficiency improvement. Moreover, the study results also indicate that, unlike the actual HSR operation, the target speed should be dynamically adjusted according to the transport distances between stops if the transport capacity of the rail line is not extensively used. The exact target speed for each inter-stop transport distance shorter than 100 km should be further determined according to the traction characteristics of the train and the track geometry of the rail line. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.