China's proposal to build a high-speed railway began in 1990, but began construction in the middle of 18 years, only in 2008. In the interim, 1998 was a node, in 2003 and 2004 it was a node, and 2004 was particularly important because of china's medium- and long-term railway network programme。
For the first time in 2008. It has been quoted as the most efficient route for operations, since the economy along its borders is larger than one third of china's GDP and can make large profits within three years。
Some reminiscent concentrations also referred to elements, including discussions at the time regarding the selection of high-speed rail technical routes, such as why shanghai was to build a magnetic suspension to verify the viability of that route. The development of chinese railways, before the idea was put forward in 1990, was greatly affected by more than half of the fall in united states railways。
The green cars that we remember when we were kids in the '80s, because they used mainly internal combustion engines, and the long lines when the railway opened windows were all black ash. Railway tickets were difficult to buy, spring traffic problems were slow。
Prior to the 1990s, the average speed of railways had been less than 50 kilometres per hour, mainly because of the results of the dismantling of railways in the united states. China is not considered suitable for the development of railways, and it is clear that the united states has begun to dismantle it. It should build roads and even feeder airlines。
But feeder aviation was too expensive at that time, mainly to build roads. This perception has indeed affected china's infrastructure planning for quite some time。
At that time, the new investment plans for railways were about tens to tens of billions of dollars. But running away from a specific year or two, re-energized from 2013 to the next node after 2008。
With the exception of the very low point in 2011, china's annual rail investment in recent years has been roughly hundreds of billions of dollars. So, probably before 2005, the main inputs were on the highway。
China's freeway travels more than 150,000 kilometres in 2019, making it the world's largest and more than all other countries combined. Even so, china has not reached 200,000 kilometres of rail traffic, about 160,000 kilometres, or half of what it did in the united states。
Another issue is the orbital standard. This was previously a troublesome issue in railways, with different orbital standards。
Later, in different books, it was stated that standard tracks, or 1435 mm, were used in most parts of the world. Only the russian and central asian bands are unique in the use of wide orbits, and japan was the first to use narrow orbits, about 1,000 mm or more。
Turns out there's the sound of a suture when the railroad rides in a green leather car, and that's too fast, and that's going to cause great discomfort, and possibly other problems like justice. So now it's all on the plane, and it doesn't happen a little higher or lower。
Goods and passengers may be reused or may not be. Of course, the biggest difference between today's trains and the past is that they are no longer dependent on fossil energy but on electricity。
This is also important for countries with different energy structures, especially countries like china, which are another important factor beyond all other cost and economic comparisons。
In addition to the effects of the newly installed high-speed railway system on china's economy, population migration and the formation of economic belts, the final solution to china's problems is to combine the four issues of roads, water, sea and rail, known as "intermodal transport"。
China's share of multimodal transport in the freight transport system is still modest, but the short term “145” and the long term up to 2030 and 2035 have a clear goal of achieving a new level and percentage of multimodal transport efficiency。
Ultimately, the best logistics system combines road, river, sea and rail, based on economic characteristics andlerable added value and costs. On that basis, china had two issues to address: external, trade system, and internal, regional development balance。
So the main change from the first-designed "four-and-four" to the subsequent "eight-and-eight" was the second: more infrastructure freight logistics systems would have to be tilted towards the centre-west in order to address intra-china imbalances in development, while external relations were related to trade and china's partnership. This is also why it is so important to realize why it is so important。
China's high iron has become powerful, similar to japan's development path. Absorption and purchase of 10,000 railways orInfrastructure developmentRelated patents, through introduction, digestion and absorption。
The road china has travelled is similar to that of japan, except at a faster pace, with the process being completed in less than 10 years, and, of course, with 20 years of hard work。
China's previous accumulation of more than a decade was the result of ideas and plans put forward in 1990 and many studies carried out, but the matter began to run until 2008, with many quiet research processes. So by the time it's ready to start, mainly with the introduction, digestion is fast, because more than a decade of work has been done。
When china became an autonomous and innovative country for high iron development, it was almost the most representative and capable country in the world. However, when exporting technology abroad, it is subject to many interferences, obstructions or other forms of competition。
The yawan high iron is important because it is the first overseas route that china has taken down, from technology to products, management, design and construction, and the first complete overseas route. There are currently three main technical routes for high iron, represented by japan, europe and china, which ultimately do not differ substantially in terms of technology, basically on a rotational basis。
Between 1990 and 2008, china did not approve of high iron repair, and it was a different technical route to fix the magnetic suspension due to various disputes to verify whether or not it was on the wheel or on magnetic suspension. In this connection, the "eight-and-all" high-wire network is the most visible manifestation of the rapid rise of china's land transport system。
According to the medium- and long-term railway network plan, issued jointly by the national development and reform commission, the ministry of transport and communications and the china railways corporation in july 2016, the total size of the "eight-and-eight" main corridor is approximately 45,000 kilometres, consisting of eight north-south and eight east-west corridors, connecting major urban groups and economic zones。
As of march 2026, about 84 per cent of the main corridor had been completed and the main corridors, such as kyoto, kyingha-kyoto, kyoto and guangkun, had been made accessible。
During the period of 1405, the country's railways were expanded from 146,600 km to 165,000 km, and high irons from 3. 79 million km to 504 km, creating the world's largest and most advanced high-speed railway network. So many tracks of steel, all burned in real gold and silver。
In 2024, the national railways completed investment of 85. 6 billion yuan in fixed assets, an increase of 11. 3 per cent over the same period, the highest ever. The total investment in railway fixed assets during the "1355 " period was 3990. 1 billion yuan。
Where did the money come from? Chen guang, professor of finance at the shanghai school of advanced finance, shanghai university of transport, has studied this book of "mistake"。
According to his dismantling, railway construction funds are divided into project capital and debt financing: capital money is more like "your own capital" and debt financing is more like "loan base", and both are used in combination. Specific sources include investments within the central budget, railway construction funds, railway construction bonds, special construction funds, bank financing and local government funding。
The proportion of capital is generally around 50 per cent due to the size of the inputs, the long return cycles and weak profitability of railway projects. The main railways are co-financed by the central and local authorities, with the national iron group playing the primary role, with the provinces and municipalities responsible for the demolition of land within the project, and local governments participating in the construction of the railways, either directly financed or in the form of a share of the cost of the eviction。
The state iron group, a "housekeeper", achieved an operating income of $125. 3 billion in 2024, an increase of 3. 0 per cent over the same period, net profits of $3. 9 billion, and an asset liability rate of 63. 51 per cent at the end of the year, a decrease of 2. 03 percentage points from the end of the previous year, the lowest level in 10 years. Bond financing is also an asset to raise money from high metal。
Since 2001, the size of railway construction bonds issued by the state iron group has expanded significantly, with low interest rates and long maturities, typical of long-term low-cost finance. In the area of asset securitization, the tai qin railway, the guangdong railway, and the kyogi state railway have landed in the capital market。
At the local level, the "one company in one province" reform has been promoted in the provinces; in the area of social capital, in 2018, china's national railways group transferred 49 per cent of the operation of the high-heated railway group, wi-fi, and introduced private enterprises, such as jili and tetsu. There's a lot of money going。
In 2024, 434. 2 billion yuan was invested in railway infrastructure in the old, young and poor areas, and more than half of that investment fell on the front line of the poverty-eradication campaign. Looking ahead, by 2030, china's railways will be operating about 180,000 kilometres, of which around 60,000 kilometres are high iron, and the "eight-and-eight" high iron system will become a net。
At the same time, there has been a steady increase in the number of passengers and cargo from the chinese and old railways and in the volume of high-altitude passengers from yawan, and the "all-in-all" game has been held up。
"eight-and-all" moves smoothly and quickly not by the money-shaping tree, but by a well-designed multi-channel system of financing: a central budget, a built-up fund to keep running, a bond-financing charge, a bank loan gap, a local contribution burden, and social capital to provide living water。
Professor chen’s research shows that rail investment is never simply “loaning money” but a fine art of capital operation。
