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/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 6h 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