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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Box Ox" data-source="post: 6016494" data-attributes="member: 48469">[URL unfurl="true"]https://www.wsj.com/world/china/xi-high-speed-trains-china[/URL]<h3>China Is Building 30,000 Miles of High-Speed Rail—That It Might Not Need</h3>November 20, 2024“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.”——————————-“The challenge for China is that high-speed trains are far more costly than alternatives, such as traditional trains or buses, which many economists believe are sufficient for much of the country.”———————————“All told, China State Railway’s liabilities grew to a record of about $860 billion as of September. The total debt tied to China’s rail expansion is even higher, since <a href="https://www.wsj.com/world/china/china-economy-debt-borrowing-33f08b5e?mod=article_inline" target="_blank">cash-strapped local governments</a> are being required to bear many of the costs for new projects. Over time, maintenance costs will add up.”———————————“Zhao Jian, a scholar at Beijing Jiaotong University who’s critical of the high-speed rail build-out, has argued in commentaries that China is turning a blind eye to the system’s financial perils. He has said the country would have been better off only building a few thousand miles of high-speed rail in its most densely populated areas. Hundreds of billions of dollars could have instead been invested in traditional railways that can also handle freight, as well as on more research in areas like <a href="https://www.wsj.com/tech/chinese-semiconductor-industry-smic-self-sufficient-5210abf8?mod=article_inline" target="_blank">advanced chips</a>.”</blockquote>

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