China's high speed rail conundrum

Right. I’ve had a couple of days off to recharge my batteries (which I needed badly after a frantic last few months).

For today’s Global Threads, I want to write about trains, infrastructure and over-supply in China. I hope you’ll enjoy.

---

China’s high-speed rail network is, by any measure, a staggering feat of engineering and ambition. In just over fifteen years, it has grown from virtually nothing to the world’s largest and fastest-expanding network of its kind, stretching over 48,000 kilometres as of early 2024 - more than two-thirds of the total global high-speed rail mileage.

That number is expected to reach 60,000 kilometres by the end of the decade. Trains race along these routes at commercial speeds of up to 330 kilometres per hour, with designed top speeds of 350 km/h on many of the most advanced lines.

These trains have transformed travel between China’s megacities, dramatically cutting journey times across the eastern seaboard and beyond.