What has emerged 12 years later is one of the biggest public works in history, soon to exceed 30,000 miles of high-speed rail. For many of its citizens, the vast network is one of the clearest signs of China’s progress, especially compared with the U.S., which has struggled to get any high-speed rail going. Lest they forget whom to thank, its top-of-the-line trains are named “Rejuvenation,” after Xi’s promise to restore China’s national power.

The build-out encapsulates Xi’s vision for China’s future, with a focus on advanced technology driven by government spending. Chinese leaders once prioritized lifting individual wealth to keep people happy. Xi’s colossal investment in trains is part of a return to the Communist Party’s roots by emphasizing collective benefits from the state.

The plan sticks to a well-worn economic model built on maintaining growth through infrastructure spending—even though China already has much of what it needs.

It’s becoming a giant money pit. China has spent more than $500 billion on new tracks, trains and stations in the past five years, while the country’s national railway operator, China State Railway Group, is nearing $1 trillion of debt and other liabilities. Just keeping up with its debt requires $25 billion annually.

While passenger numbers have rebounded following the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions, raising ridership will be especially challenging in the years to come as China’s population is projected to shrink by around 200 million people in the next three decades. Some of the newest lines are in effect duplicating older ones.

The expansion now stretches into quieter corners of inland China, such as central Sichuan province’s Fushun County, where the population of 700,000 mostly rural residents has been shrinking for years. It got its first high-speed trains in 2021, and there are now at least 12 high-speed rail stations within a 40-mile radius in the county and its surrounding areas.

On a recent afternoon, Fushun Station itself was practically deserted, with around 20 travelers milling about in a cavernous waiting room with seats for 1,000.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5639865&forum_id=2#48378503)

Liu roamed China for decades as a construction worker, including on a high-speed rail station in a wealthy coastal city. As the economy sagged, Liu’s pay fell 40%. He recently moved back home to Sichuan, where his expenses are cheaper.

Like many other Chinese, Liu praised the high-speed rail system overall for its convenience. Then he questioned how much more the country should build.

“We’re already saturated,” he said.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5639865&forum_id=2#48378509)

Such massive spending is a feature of China’s growth story, with investment making up about 42% of its gross domestic product, compared with 26% globally.

“If you want to get rich, first build the roads,” Xi has said to justify spending on transportation, including high-speed rail—no matter the cost.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5639865&forum_id=2#48378513)

Too much infrastructure!

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5639865&forum_id=2#48378538)

“Our village has over 30 people working for their rice at the railways,” a janitor at one station in Tibet along the new line told state media.

While not technically high-speed rail, the trains would run at around 100 miles an hour over the 13-hour journey. That’s still far longer than the 2½ hours it takes to fly from Chengdu to Lhasa, with plentiful daily options. Flights can go for as little as $50 one way, making it tough for the trains to compete.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5639865&forum_id=2#48378539)

That route will soon bring high-speed trains to Sichuan’s Gao County, south of Fushun, for the first time. In the county seat, property developers are erecting new apartment blocks in a district that will be home to its high-speed rail station.

Gao County’s population of about 375,000, including many pig farmers and grain growers, has shrunk nearly 10% since 2019 as locals sought work elsewhere. Per capita economic output is two-thirds of the national level.

The area doesn’t lack connectivity. High-speed trains run through the city of Yibin, 40 minutes north. The 20 million-person metropolis of Chengdu is reachable in about two hours.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5639865&forum_id=2#48378551)

they were planning to do it for all the World Cup cities and they realized it’s expensive and stupid and everyone just used planes

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5639865&forum_id=2#48378669)

Moscow – St. Petersburg high-speed train is manufactured by Sinara and designed to reach speeds of up to 400 km/h with the first carriages expected to depart for Saint Petersburg in 2028.

The Deputy Prime Minister recalled that the development of high-speed rail in Russia is one of the priority areas of the national transport strategy which was approved in August 2023 by the Russian President Vladimir Putin. Under the strategy, “five huge high-speed rail projects are to be implemented. They will cover and ensure the movement of approximately 80% of the country’s population. The Moscow – St. Petersburg HSR will give a serious boost to the Russian economy and will also contribute to increased connectivity of territories and increased mobility of passengers and goods,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

https://www.railwaypro.com/wp/high-speed-train-design-for-moscow-st-petersburg-line-presented/

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5639865&forum_id=2#48378829)

and if china rail is actually $1T in debt who cares? its debyt frmo the chink govt prob and 25b a year for interest is nothing by US debt standards

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5639865&forum_id=2#48378661)

BRILLIANT governance by the CCP.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5639865&forum_id=2#48378723)

The Good: They build cool infrastructure quickly and efficiently

The Bad: They're not reacting to marketplace demands; they don't give a shit about the ultimate impacts that construction and the project will have on the environment, residents in the area, future consumers of the infrastructure

Everyone in the US thinks the latter is faggy. "Who gives a shit; let's build!" But there is something to be said for having a sophisticated legal and financial system that gives everyone some say in what gets built and how.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5639865&forum_id=2#48378717)

and marketplace demands, lol u idiots only think of doing some shit when its too late, china actually plans for the future, to imrpove its ppls lives instead of thinking of faggot kike market wtf does that even mean for something like HSR u stupid faggot u connect any cities witha t least 1m ppl simple as

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5639865&forum_id=2#48378837)

*walks out onto Market St in SF*

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5639865&forum_id=2#48379043)

China can napalm a path through their country and build over the charred remains, and anyone who complains about it will be sent to prison camps.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5639865&forum_id=2#48378986)

The bigger issue for Gao County, and the residents of its 200 villages, is a lack of jobs.

“If you’re hardworking and want to make more money, you’ve got to find work on the outside,” said one villager whose home and plot of farmland sits in the shadow of the new line’s elevated tracks. She said officials promised her the trains that will soon zip by won’t be too noisy.

In nearby Luojia Village, the line’s construction has hastened the community’s decline, residents said, as the government requisitioned land for tracks and for another infrastructure project upgrading the local waterworks.

“More and more people have gone elsewhere,” said 62-year-old Hu Mingqun, who runs a village health center with her husband. “Those who stay at home to farm don’t make much money because their land has shrunk.”

Still, Hu said she enjoyed taking the high-speed rail to visit her daughter in another province, and trusted that the system would ultimately make life in China better.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5639865&forum_id=2#48379597)