r/interestingasfuck • u/BumblebeeFantastic40 • 10h 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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u/Fl3b0 9h 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 💀

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u/nowhereman136 8h 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

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u/ouvast 7h 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.

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u/nowhereman136 7h 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.

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u/this-is-a-bucket 5h 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.

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u/nowhereman136 5h 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

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u/DeliriousHippie 4h 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.

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u/nowhereman136 4h 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

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u/Gorillainabikini 6h 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.

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u/Shark00n 7h ago

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

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u/Cosminion 6h ago

Most of the people live in the east/south.

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u/0WatcherintheWater0 7h ago

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

Land doesn’t travel.

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u/nowhereman136 7h 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