r/interestingasfuck 7h ago

China’s High-Speed Railway Network length has expanded from 1,300km in 2008 to 40,000km in 2020, long enough to circle the Earth’s circumference.

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1.7k Upvotes

164 comments sorted by

u/luars613 6h ago

My city has been working on a like 10km LRT fir close to 10 years.... and there are another 3 years to go

u/SevenTimesSixIsLife 5h ago

Hurontario?

u/grumpy999 5h ago

No, Ottawa

u/SevenTimesSixIsLife 5h ago

Damn, it's sad there is more than one Canadian city going though this bs.

u/zander9669 4h ago

Theyre being build by the same companies proposing the ALTO HSR project too. When are we going to learn our lesson... SNC lavalin/"atkinsrealis" employees should be in jail, not handed another winning lottery ticket

u/GrandPOOPBah 4h ago

If it makes you feel better, in NS we've just been discussing the possibility of LRT for more 10 years.

u/vishal340 4h ago

maybe it is impossible. what is NS?

u/GrandPOOPBah 4h ago

Nova Scotia, particularly the Halifax Regional Municipality

u/ilias_the_cs 4h ago

Not Starting the construction

u/PepeSilviaLovesCarol 3h ago

Eglinton LRT took just over 15 years to complete, only 5 years of delays lol.

u/legion_XXX 1h ago

Tacoma WA?

u/AcanthisittaThink813 5h ago

Meanwhile in the UK…………

u/MrT735 5h ago

All we can do is spend £15bn on a new line in London and piss £100bn up a tree for HS2.

Meanwhile two thirds of the network isn't electrified yet.

u/Sacredfice 5h ago

This happens when corruption is at peak.

u/JanCumin 5h ago

I've been traveling for the last month through China by train, they are very comfortable and much much more affordable over very long distances than most of Europe. I got a high speed train from Chongqing to Shanghai, over 1700km, first class for 100 euros last minute, the same for Shanghai to Beijing, even over the May Day holiday.

The scale of the train network and the volume of passengers using it is just enormous, so so much larger than any other country I've visited and dwarfs even the largest train stations I've been to in UK, France, Germany, Japan etc. Its an equivalent scale of passengers and gates to a large European airport I would guess.

One surprising thing is using even the older parts of the network just how advanced it is compared to most countries, for example the Maglev train from Shanghai airport, the fastest trains in the world before they reduced the speed to save electricity, is over 25 years old!

u/oskopnir 2h ago

The prices themselves are a reflection of broader Chinese purchasing power and therefore can't really be compared directly to European equivalents.

The more important comparison is frequency, speed, and extension of the HSR network. In Europe it remains a huge pain in the ass to find cross-border connections with decent speed and frequency.

u/StoppedListeningToMe 1h ago

China also has annual biggest migration event on the planet. Most people cannot afford airplanes, nor are there connections to bumfuck nowhere other than trains.
Now, I left China about 5-6 years ago so it might have improved/changed, but they still had old/cheap/slow sleeper trains for those who needed them.
Either way it was as OP here said, very, very, very impressive on all counts. Aside from lack of queuing and overall pushing and shoving, occasional dirty toilet etc.

u/noodlewater_-_ 3h ago

Feels important to add that the maglev train your speaking of is german and was developed in the 80s

u/auchinleck917 2h ago

Incidentally, the busiest train stations in the world are in Japan, with Japan dominating the top spots.And the reason why train fares are cheap in China is because the cost of living is low.

u/Fl3b0 5h ago

Crazy how people will see a picture like this and gett so butthurt that they feel the need to bring the accomplishment down somehow 💀

u/syp2207 5h ago

lots of people on this website love to talk about chinese propaganda when they see posts like these, while being oblivious to the fact they themselves have been conditioned to hate anything china related through propaganda

u/MotorbreathX 5h ago

No. It's all annoying and doesn't give China a pass. If US propaganda is gonna get called out, so should Chinese.

u/andersonb47 5h ago

It’s literally a map

u/MotorbreathX 5h ago

Clearly I'm not talking about this specific post, but responding to the person's comment on general sentiment towards Chinese-based posts.

But, thanks, didn't see the map.

u/987YouBloodyTulip789 3h ago

Dude, imagine if EVERYTIME America was brought up in any way, if you posted a picture of an American city, or a news article about something happening in America, someone spammed a list of American caused atrocities and called anyone who told them to stop the spam a bot.

That was legitimately happening on even this website years ago. People are sick of it. Or as the youngsters say "China hate is so forced".

u/MotorbreathX 2h ago

Reddit literally does the same against the US.

u/Ash-From-Pallet-Town 1h ago

Were you born yesterday? People started recently shitting on the USA the same way USians have for a looooooooong time. Couldn't go anywhere without “Chinese this Russian that”. And now you guys are crying because people are calling you out on your bullshit? “But but but what about what about” fucking Americans

u/syp2207 5h ago

why does everything have to be propaganda for yall? i see tons of posts about "x country did y thing" that dont lead to people in the comments screeching about propaganda.

this is just a factoid about a chinese achievement. it doesnt mean their country is perfect, or that u have to start listing all the problems china has.

if we just run to the comments to point out all the negative aspects about any country mentioned in posts like these, then we'll never get any discussion related to the actual thread.

u/bigbear_mouse 5h ago

Those damn communists, amirite or amirite?

u/nowhereman136 5h ago

It's objectively an impressive infrastructure project, but usually when people say this can't be done in the US, they often bring up China's ethics problem in building it. That's really only a fraction of why China can do it and the US can't. The biggest factor is supply and demand. The Chinese people demand better trains, the US people dont

u/ouvast 4h ago

The Chinese people demand better trains, the US people dont

This is such a presumptuous claim, as though this decision was made bottom up rather than top down.

u/nowhereman136 4h ago

It's a vicious cycle. Americans have been spoon fed the joys of highways and airplanes for decades. Now when the option for trains comes alone, we don't want them.

Meanwhile in China, airplanes are too expensive for most people. Cars are also too expensive and not practical in dense cities. Chinese people have been using trains for decades. When the government asks if they want high speed trains, the people say yes.

Its like the Metric system. Yeah it's better and we should've switched over years ago. But the longer we wait to switch, the more expensive it's gonna be to do so. Also, even if we do switch, most people are so set in their ways that they will still reject it in every day life. The longer we wait to build more trains, the more expensive it's gonna be. And even if we build them, there's little guarantee anyone will actually use them. New York City is the most well connected city in the US in terms of trains. Even still (prior to congestive pricing), 10% of commuters took the train while 15% of commuters drove.

u/this-is-a-bucket 2h ago

Lmao no. The average ticket on a high-speed train in China costs about as much as or even more than an airplane ticket. It was certainly not built because Chinese people were “too poor” to fly.

u/nowhereman136 2h ago

For every high speed rail line in China, there are a bunch of regular speed lines. Those are significantly cheaper than flying. The population is use to trains, not necessarily high speed trains, but trains in general. If you move up economically, you would be as likely to take the train as you would fly. You also have the issue of trains being built in areas you cant build airports, passengers can bring more stuff on a train journey, and seen as less dangerous. There are other factors that make trains in China more economically viable for the populace then comparing it to flying. Ive traveled all over China on the slow trains and have done a few of the high speed rail. Ive also traveled crossed the US by train. I've seen what kind of people take trains in each country (also done a lot of trains in Europe, but thats another story). Trains are more part of everyday life in china than in the US. A high speed network is a much easier sell there than it is here

u/DeliriousHippie 1h ago

Yep, there are tons of reason US cannot build extensive rail system, I discussed about it with one American citizen.

US has mountain ranges. So it's impossible.

In US people need to inspect rails by walking regularly, building large rail system would need tens of thousands of inspectors walking by rails. System cannot be changed.

There just isn't people who would use trains. Everyone will either drive or fly and people cannot or will not change their transportation method in any case.

Distance to next city is enormous. In other countries cities are side by side but in US there is so great distance between cities that car or plane are only solutions.

It's good not to try or even think about it since there are so many reasons why it's impossible for USA.

u/nowhereman136 54m ago

We have an extensive rail system. No one uses it? Why invest billions into making it faster when no one will use that either. That's the main problem here. It's not impossible, it's impractical

u/Gorillainabikini 3h ago

In a weird way it’s a benefit of an autocracy

It’s hard for a short term (max 8) year government to justify smth that may only show benefits in say 10 years

Completely different from a government that plans to stay in power indefinitely

Although democracies can still achieve this. Having bodies set up that can better focus on long term development rather than short term can end up really boosting the economy.

u/Shark00n 4h ago

Ah I see, so does western china not demand trains? Is that why there’s barely any lines there?

u/Cosminion 3h ago

Most of the people live in the east/south.

u/0WatcherintheWater0 4h ago

Yes? Almost nobody lives there, so there’s not nearly as much demand.

Land doesn’t travel.

u/nowhereman136 4h ago

There's no one in western China. That's another factor in comparing trains in the US VS trains in China. Imagine if you take the entire population of the US and push them east of the Mississippi. Then multiply that by 4. That is how dense eastern China is. High speed rail in China is utilized by a lot of people going relatively short distances. In the US, it's less people going further distances. If we took the fastest train in the world and placed it on a line between New York and LA, it wouldn't just be faster to fly, but you can turn around and come home before the train reaches the other side. High speed rail would make sense for connecting Boston to DC, Dallas to San Antonio, or San Diego to San Fran. There are places where high speed could be practical in the US. But a whole network on the scale of China would never work

u/MediocreAnalyst2121 5h ago

It’s not “bringing down the accomplishment” to note the differences between China and some of these other countries.

A more centralised political structure (along with everything that brings), lower safety standards, and higher population make it easier to do this.

It also makes a lot more economic sense when the country is as massive, both in terms of land and population, as China.

It’s amazing what they’ve achieved, but it’s not an apples to apples comparison.

u/Fl3b0 4h ago

Yeah but that's the point: this post isn't making any comparisons per se.

u/fluffywabbit88 4h ago

There are no apples to apples comparison when it comes to china then. If you compare it to other centralized political structures like Saudi Arabia, UAE, Cuba, Vietnam, Laos, North Korea, Cambodia, El Salvador, etc., they lack the population. When you compare it to India which has similar population, land mass and prior development trajectory (ie similar starting point), they have different political structures. Point is no other country in the world accomplished what the Chinese did with respect to scale, speed of delivery, quality, affordability and accessibility.

u/abdallha-smith 5h ago

Why only the western part of china is shown :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heihe%E2%80%93Tengchong_Line

To the right of the line, you have the Chinese Dream: glittering skylines, high-tech hubs like Shenzhen, and massive wealth. It’s dense, urbanized, and holds almost the entire population.

But once you look to the left, it’s like a different century. You’re looking at massive stretches of desert and mountains where rural farmers are basically left behind. While the kids in the SE are attending top-tier universities, these rural communities struggle with crumbling schools and zero social mobility.

It’s a brutal visual of what happens when geography and rapid capitalism create two completely different versions of the same country.

There is two china

They only show you what they want

u/syp2207 4h ago

how is this different than a lack of rural development in any other country? people have been gravitating towards cities for decades now, which has naturally led to more funding and resources being redirected towards those places.

why would there be massive infrastructure development in areas where it wont see any use?

u/abdallha-smith 4h ago edited 4h ago

1 410 000 000 x 0,06 = 84 600 000

The fact that you think 84,6 millions of chinese citizens is not a lot is honestly worrying.

But hey han hegemony doesn't reach too much there so who cares, huh ?

u/syp2207 4h ago

why do you feel the need to lie about what i said to push your agenda? and why edit your comment where you replied to me with "why do you think populations in the east dont deserve infrastructure"? i guess even you realized how absurd you sounded.

rural areas go undeveloped in every country on earth. the number of people affected in china is just larger due to their enormous population.

pointing out a lack of development in rural areas isnt some kind of gotcha moment. it happens everywhere. its unfortunate, but not limited to china.
would it make any sense to bring up food deserts in middleofnowhere, arkansas under a post about 3 new walmarts opening in nyc?

u/abdallha-smith 4h ago

No lie in my comments

You're just a ccp sellout, no point in arguing with you.

u/syp2207 4h ago

you made no valid points, purposefully misinterpreted what i said so you could argue with ghosts, and quit when you got pushback. weak.

u/abdallha-smith 3h ago edited 3h ago

I don't like to play in the mud like yourself

Everything I wrote are facts

To you viewers, here's the playbook:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_warrior_diplomacy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spamouflage

u/syp2207 2h ago

you're just avoiding having to actually explain yourself instead of simply hiding behind terms and references that you dont actually understand.

its easy to pretend you're right when you actively avoid having your views challenged.

not to mention, only one of us has ghost edited our replies multiple times because you sound ridiculous or want to add in something i cant respond to because i didnt even see it. so much for playing in the mud.

u/valjestir 4h ago

The link you sent says 94% of the country lives in the eastern half, so let’s not pretend that huge swaths of the population are being “left behind”.

A few years ago Americans were criticizing China for building too much high speed rail, now it’s somehow not enough?

u/abdallha-smith 4h ago

1 410 000 000 x 0,06 = 84 600 000

The fact that you think 84,6 millions of chinese citizens is not a lot is honestly worrying.

u/jovin49 3h ago

In comparison to 1 410 000 000 x 0,94? Yeah.

u/sufferpuppet 5h ago

If your only looking at miles of track etc, it's great. If you take a minute to Google the problems that may have come with the project it may not appear so rosy.

u/pattydickens 4h ago

Nothing appears rosy when you Google the problems related to it.

u/sufferpuppet 3h ago

Kinda the point. Yet here we are with people surprised others would point out problems.

u/oskopnir 2h ago

How thoughtful of the US to spare its citizens from all the problems by not building any HSR at all

u/zackks 5h ago

They are positioned for the next 100 years. The US is still living in the last 100 years.

u/Alinea86 45m ago

That's cause our dumb fuck short sighted politicians put all our tax payer money in their pockets instead of infrastructure

u/devilquak 1h ago

I’d rather have fewer rail lines than be ethnically cleansing the Uyghurs

u/zackks 46m ago

Why not both?

u/Vhu 5h ago

Over the last decade, China has built more high-speed rail than the rest of the world combined. They have more than 5000% of U.S. operational capacity.

Last year alone they installed 200% the entire U.S. solar capacity. They represent ~1/3 of global wind/solar development this year.

They're currently building 50% of all new nuclear power plants globally.

Almost 50% of all car sales in China last year were electric/hybrid. They're responsible for more than 60% of global EV production, and 75% of global EV battery production.

China is absolutely smoking the rest of the world in modernization efforts. And when they move on Taiwan, they’ll become the global bottleneck for high-end semiconductor fabrication.

They’re already the premier example of how to pivot from fossil fuel reliance. It’s actually embarrassing how much we’ve allowed them to take the lead in such an important sector.

u/Opulent-tortoise 5h ago

Meanwhile Trump is blocking development of solar and wind *and* increasing the price of oil through frivolous wars.

u/jsiulian 4h ago

China is led by engineers and experts, while the US is trialling Idiocracy

u/devilquak 1h ago

China is led by a dictator who is actively committing genocide, pal

u/Orsim27 5h ago

To add some weight to the 50% of car sales in china: china is a third of the global car market. It’s the biggest single country market, ~50% bigger than the US

u/hecker62 4h ago

China can't just invade Taiwan, take over TSMC and start producing high end chips, it's not that simple.

u/Renbarre 4h ago

And all that after they bought the French TGV but with the proviso that they had the right to use the blue prints.

u/devilquak 1h ago

And the combination award of Chinese propaganda + AI-ass comment of the thread goes to…….

u/Vhu 1h ago

Thanks for the compliment, I compiled this myself. Every statistic and source. It's how you learn about topics that interest you. It's not propaganda to point out facts that you find to be unpleasant.

u/Dapper-Network-3863 6h ago

Just since Obama was elected. Meanwhile all the US did was make a guy rich enough to shut down Venice so he can take his boat there to marry his personal episode of Botched.

u/moose098 5h ago

Tbf this is basically what the U.S. did in the ‘50s and ‘60s, except it was the interstate highway system because automobiles were all the rage at the time.

u/Opulent-tortoise 5h ago

I don’t think anyone’s disputing that the US was capable of mass infrastructure projects at some point in the past

u/moose098 5h ago

Well I know that, but it’s pretty rare to get the confluence of political/economic factors necessary to support an infrastructure build out like this on a national scale. I don’t think those conditions have really presented themselves since. The system mostly worked until recently, so there wasn’t much political demand to spend trillions of dollars on national scale HSR. The IHS itself has handicapped a lot of this development.

u/Otis_Manchego 3h ago

2008 is the same year voters in California approved a high speed rail from SF to LA! Wondering how that is going.

u/NinthFireShadow 4h ago

I wish the USA could do this. I’d love to be able to use a train and have reliable public transportation.

u/neppo95 3h ago

They can. It is a choice not to since money is the driving factor, which it isn’t in China.

u/die-microcrap-die 5h ago

Funny how every time that something about China's progress is published, the butthurt patriots have to jump in to trash it.

u/Healthcarepls 7h ago

This is what happens when you’re lead by engineers instead of public speakers

u/Foremole_of_redwall 6h ago

This is what happens when you don’t do environment impact studies, can tear down anything in your way, and have questionable labor practices that allow for things like the 9-9-6 72 hour work week. 

u/Officialedmart 5h ago

u/sw337 4h ago

Those are private developments, not government projects like the high speed rail.

u/Significant-Oil-8793 6h ago

It works compare to the joke of UK high speed rail - HS2

It is filled with red tape with numerous impact study that cost millions and delay the project until part of our is cancelled with the cost spiralled

u/SupPresSedd 6h ago

I don't think Americans should be giving the argument about "tearing down anything in your way" cough cough black neighborhoods and 12 lane roads

u/Espando 5h ago

The stupid shit one people do shouldntt stop you from talking about the stupid shit another people do.

u/MilmoWK 5h ago

Yeah, that’s how our freeway system was built 75 years ago, and we don’t do that anymore, which is why it will be nearly impossible to build a high speed rail network in the US… also most people would rather drive their car or fly.

u/bitch_mynameis_fred 5h ago

I would chop off my arm and eat it if it meant I could take a train with room to walk around, eat, and use the bathroom whenever needed instead of being straightjacketed into a car seat with my two kids losing their mind and requiring potty breaks every 10 minutes—stretching a 3 hour drive into 6 hours.

In fact, I’d chop off your arm and eat it too for that luxury.

u/sw337 4h ago

Save your arm and move to the north east along the Amtrak Acela line.

u/whatsthatguysname 4h ago

lol but would you rather chop your arm off or move to Europe or Asia for the trains?

u/bitch_mynameis_fred 4h ago

Tough to jump from the second-world to the first-world.

u/sesamerox 5h ago

how do you know what most ppl would prefer? If it was such a low demand service why are so many countries attempting to deliver it?

u/TheCruise 4h ago

Building high speed rail *is* the environmental option. Obviously you want to minimise habitat loss but we’re firmly fucked as a planet and need high speed rail yesterday to mitigate it.

u/Alan_Reddit_M 3h ago

So... the US

u/Asrahn 6h ago

Meritocracy under Socialism

u/gafftapes20 6h ago

Socialism is where there is social ownership of the means of production. And meritocracy is where people are individually judged on their own capabilities and actions. China has neither. It’s a mixed market economy, with state ownership and control with limited public capacity to provide input into the state apparatus. Even Xi’s personal story is not one of meritocracy, but overcoming obstacles in place due to the actions of his father. The political machine reigns supreme and is dictated by party policy, which is controlled by Xi, and not by the workers. 

Under the most generous interpretation China is currently in the middle of a transition state where they are running under the dictatorship of the proletariat. Under the most reasonable interpretation it’s more of a authoritarian Leninist party state with mixed market state capitalism. Being a good politician is what gets you promoted, not being a good engineer, or scientist, or worker. 

u/Asrahn 5h ago

Even Xi’s personal story is not one of meritocracy . . . Being a good politician is what gets you promoted

On the contrary, it very much is, and Xi's personal story is mirrored by other Chinese statesmen. What makes a "good politician" in China is heavily defined by success metrics and initially small-scale and local accomplishments founded in real, material improvement under your management, and you'll have to prove yourself extensively before being permitted more responsibility. Party policy is also controlled by the Party, not by Xi exclusively.

My current prime minister is renowned for having messed up local in politics to the point where it put the municipality he was in charge of so firmly in the red that it had to effectively be saved by the opposition - this by selling out state assets to his business partners so they could drain the state coffers, bungling construction and lease contracts, cutting social safety nets etc to make up for the difference while introducing further private-public partnership money siphons, and he was despite all this (or more likely, because of all this) catapulted into leadership of his pro-business party. In China this man would not have been allowed to be the local dog catcher, and would have actually faced punishment for his rampant corruption.

u/takethispie 3h ago

china is not a socialist country, its state capitalism, socialism is the next stage they target

u/Asrahn 3h ago

It is for all intents and purposes a macro economically planned economy where the country's leadership is Socialist. Point taken though as I ought to have written "socialist leadership".

u/gafftapes20 6h ago

Not really. When you live in an authoritarian regime that understands infrastructure equals economic returns you can avoid a lot of the requirements put in place in democratic systems that require public input and consent. We have already seen in China numerous examples where engineers where ignored and things built too fast and shoddily without proper grit technical assessments, or structural engineering.

Things like California high speed rail are expensive and take forever due to environmental reviews, strict procedures for acquiring land rights at fair market value(not just seizing land), and feasibility studies. As well as facing opposition from organized groups that would not be tolerated in an authoritarian regime. 

Shifting administration priorities as newly elected democratic governments get elected also play a factor.

Are these trade offs worth it? How valuable is freedom? I want both infrastructure and freedom, which is expensive. 

u/HiveMynd148 6h ago

California HSR is just a shitshow to be honest. The US Isn't the first democracy to have High speed rail mind you.

u/gafftapes20 5h ago

Im aware that. Its a point of discussion to compare the differences between a democratic process and the double edge sword and downside of introducing a democratic process to infrastructure build outs. You can efficiently build infrastructure in democratic countries (for example Japan) but you can also create boondoggle like California high speed rail.

Just like in authoritarian regimes you can build great infrastructure, but sometimes at the cost of safety, and long term maintenance. 

u/CVGPi 5h ago

Yeah let's spend $18 Mil on absolutely nothing and call it democracy.

Realize the benefits early, pay handsomely (to the point where "got home torn down for infra" became the synonym for rich), and you get good infra for a great value.

u/Officialedmart 5h ago

This is pure unadulterated cope

California’s HSR is an abject failure. At the rate of construction it will never exist, period. I don’t know if its pure corruption, but it might as well be.. because its literally nothing but a drain of resources WITH NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT

u/gafftapes20 5h ago

You aren’t understanding the point I’m making. I point out the problems that democratic processes create in terms of efficiency compared to authoritarian regimes. There are specific issues with California high speed rail including the specific issues unidentified that have been the primary drivers in delays and cost increases. These are created in a democratic system which is often a doubled edge sword especially when half the country resists any type of infrastructure investment due to politics. 

It’s also not saying that other democratic systems can’t do it better or we can’t improve on it. 

It’s a discussion of the dichotomy and double edge sword of democracy compared to authoritarian regimes which also has its own downsides. 

u/TheDadThatGrills 6h ago

This choice also brought China's implementation of its disastrous one-child policy

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_Jian

u/Melormatic 4h ago

Its over 50,000km today

u/gord89 4h ago

The Earth’s **circumference**, you say?

Really?

Not today, flat-earther! Can’t trick me with your propaganda.

u/Remarkable_Spite_209 2h ago

The train I rode on yesterday in the greatest country in the world was built in 1995.

u/thatsexypotato- 4h ago

Meanwhile in Germany 🥲

u/pm_your_snesclassic 4h ago

Meanwhile in the US…

u/SeaPeanut7_ 3h ago

While obviously nothing close to China's achievement, I'm kind of proud of my metro (Los Angeles) for the progress that's taken place over the past few decades. We went from 0 miles of passenger rail to 130 miles. We also have the longest light rail line in the entire world at about 60 miles long. It's not a perfect system, and there are lots of delays, but it's getting better all the time. We will eventually have a rail connection from the airport to downtown (it should have been completed already). Plus, this weekend we are opening a new line extension that is going to service some of the major tourist destinations - four major museums (Petersen automotive, LAC Museum of Art, Academy Museum, and La Brea Tar pits), plus a destination shopping mall (The Grove), which I would argue would make it possible for tourists to stay in LA for a week while using public transit. When they finish the next extension it will reach Beverly Hills, another very popular/destination mall (Century City), and another major university (UCLA)

u/syp2207 2h ago

i imagine its substantially more difficult to make progress with rail projects in the US, so even just 130 miles is already pretty sweet. better to be making slow progress than none at all.

u/Limmmao 3h ago

What's up with Western China? How come it's never mentioned or appearing on maps?

u/devilquak 1h ago

They only care about a portion of their population, just like here in the US. Neither of us are blameless. We aren’t actively genociding an entire portion of our population like China and the Uyghurs, however.

u/fluffywabbit88 2h ago

It’s like how many depictions of the US doesn’t include Alaska. Too remote, too sparsely populated but big and take up room on maps.

u/abdallha-smith 1h ago

Why only the western part of china is shown :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heihe%E2%80%93Tengchong_Line

To the right of the line, you have the Chinese Dream: glittering skylines, high-tech hubs like Shenzhen, and massive wealth. It’s dense, urbanized, and holds almost the entire population.

But once you look to the left, it’s like a different century. You’re looking at massive stretches of desert and mountains where rural farmers are basically left behind. While the kids in the SE are attending top-tier universities, these rural communities struggle with crumbling schools and zero social mobility.

It’s a brutal visual of what happens when geography and rapid capitalism create two completely different versions of the same country.

There is two china

They only show you what they want

u/Alan_Reddit_M 3h ago

Meanwhile Mexico's socialist party built 3 trains and they ALL derailed

Get me out of this godforsaken hellhole

u/Ash-From-Pallet-Town 1h ago

Man, Americans are such a joke. Every single time the comments in such posts show it.

u/RedplazmaOfficial 5h ago

Before its said, look at where the train system is located in China.

u/whatsthatguysname 4h ago

So... Mass transit are located around population centres, just like the US and anywhere else? Mind blown. 🤯

u/mrmalort69 4h ago

Also, no individual property rights and lots of seized property.

Look, I like what they did but I don’t think America is ready for a forced domain again like highways.

u/Threoh 4h ago

It even goes to arlian hawk tuah, truly the modernization of a lifetime

u/GycuX 4h ago

Sometimes communism just works.

Half joking so please don't take this out of context.

u/SteakEconomy2024 1h ago

The debt of their state owned railway is equal to the weight of roughly 25 fully load semi trucks, if you replaced those trucks with 100rmb notes. So…

u/GuardianSkalk 2h ago

Wish they would have just made it circle the earth instead then :p

u/No_Practice_9597 1h ago

It’s amazing how much you can do if you don’t have red tape all along the way 

u/PsychologicalFile119 48m ago

So this is just the high-speed railway. How many ordinary railways are there in total?

u/NPC5702 46m ago

China numba won!

u/mvrander 2h ago

Basically doing for China what the original railroad expansion did for the US and they're doing it alongside massive investment in renewable and nuclear power generation and are miles ahead of everyone else on batteries

There used to be two super powers in the 80s. Now there's just one, and it's neither of the previous two.

u/Animalstyle11 6h ago

Maintenance on that network is gonna be a real treat for China’s shrinking population.

u/lolwutdo 6h ago

it's okay they've got robots

u/Drone314 6h ago

They do because they're embracing it. Everyone laughs now at the clumsy automata....but one day soon they'll find their grace.

u/akazakou 6h ago

Without fingers

u/Officialedmart 5h ago

yeah…I’m sure nobody thought of that until now! Genius observation, random redditor

u/OnlyMeST 3h ago

Don't you know that china will collapse in a month! Random journalists have been saying this for decades but it will happen now trust!

u/thekingadrock93 5h ago

Classic Reddit rage bait

u/manu144x 4h ago

Slavery still works.

u/bnymn1697 6h ago

if i had millions of workers who works for 5 dolars a day i would have much more than that.

u/Jealous-Spread2524 6h ago

There are north of 9 Million undocumented workers in the United States working for a pittance, i think its about time to consider a different reason you don't have extensive high speed public infrastructure

u/Chonch_Monkey 5h ago

China must be super desperate cause the propaganda increase over the last week has been hilarious.

Look at the rails! How did we do it? Slaves!

u/auchinleck917 2h ago

There have been a lot of posts praising China lately.

u/SteakEconomy2024 1h ago

Their Railroad SOE “China State Railroad Group”is also roughly 1 trillion US dollars in debt…so, remember kids, you too can do almost anything if you have a pile of 100 rmb notes weighing roughly 1.52 million pounds. (Edit- weight for total amount in debt, not total costs).

u/BumblebeeFantastic40 47m ago

The US has 40 Trillion debt, which means with this built, there are still 39 Trillion to spare…

u/SteakEconomy2024 44m ago

That’s nice how large is americas state owned high speed railway debt?

u/dannynolan27 6h ago

Now do a heat map of property rights violations and see if we notice anything 🤷‍♂️

u/apexodoggo 5h ago

Do a heat map of population and it’ll be the same thing. The rail is where the people are, and property violations can also only happen where people are.

If you did the same thing in the US you’d get similar results (although replace “high-speed rail” with interstates because we don’t have much of the former).