it’s bizarre that the western medias would ask questions like “why does the government build a railway that is not profitable?” Public infrastructure are not meant to be profitable

China might just built another 20 miles while you were talking about this

One of my favorite things about Chinese high speed rail is watching the beautiful rural landscapes flash-by. The scenery is often very beautiful. I hope to go back to China next year and ride more of the trains.

I am indian who lived in China for three years now I am working in Europe, from my experience I feel the trains and subways in Europe makes me feel Europe is five decades away from Chinese transportation

I was in China a few weeks ago and I went from Wuhan to Shanghai with the G high-speed train (the G one it's the fastest but there K,T and Z trains as well I think). I am from Germany and pretty used to our "high-speed trains" (ICE), however traveling by train through China is insanely comfortable and pretty cheap. The distance from Wuhan to Shanghai is somewhat between 1000 and 1200km and took 4 hours. I highly recommend the trains!

Small town - 3.5m, my whole country Croatia.. 3.5million... Damn...

Having a rail to rural areas helps the rural area develop faster than an airport. Having a rail system in rural areas, you can easily export regional goods/minerals and import construction materials/ tools to those areas. To do it by plane it is really expensive long term. So sure building a rural rail line might not be profitable passenger wise, but long term it is easier to develop the country.

They had the foresight to realise that tiny tin cans filling up roads will cause a major problem. I have been on the high speed train network and the maglev train. Hurtling along at 350km/hour is amazing. State expenditure on developing is the way to go. It's a massive project and benefits China.

relatively small city with a population of 3.5 million Toronto(Canada's largest city) - 3.2 million population -.-'

The western ignore one thing, train is a public service in China to some degree, we can not always consider of making money in every thing

Last week, I took Amtrak from Washington to Roanoke and it took about 4.5 hrs despite the cities only being ~230 miles apart. 9 hours from DC to Dallas is incredible to me

My son and his wife both worked at the U.S. Embassy in Guangzhou for a few years and they took trains everywhere they wanted or needed to go.

I've experienced the Chinese rail system first hand and the convenience is like nothing anyone in the US could comprehend. Imagine needing to travel between Columbus Ohio and Chicago at a moment's notice and being able to go to a high speed rail station where there are trains coming to and from Chicago every 15 minutes. What is close to a 6-hour drive without traffic will take you under 2 hours one way and the round trip will be under $30. Now imagine that same convenience exists between nearly every major city in the US and imagine this entire network was built in UNDER A DECADE. That's China. In the US, traveling between two big cities can be a real hassle -- especially ones that are too close for a flight to be economically viable but too far away to consider driving -- not to mention your loss of productivity during the drive. In China, there's really very little thought into it. If you have to go from the equivalent of Columbus Ohio to Chicago, you just go. Is it the most luxurious experience? No but it's more comfortable than flying and seeing the ground flash by at 200+ MPH is something else. You can't perceive that speed in a plane but you sure do on the ground.

There is a proverb in China："To get rich, build roads first"

2:00 "Poorest country in the world to have any high speed rail." That aged like milk REALLY QUICKLY. 2 days after the uploading of the video, Morocco opened its high speed rail line. Edit: I forgot that Uzbekistan had bullet trains too, 2011 opened.

China seems to be the only nation capable of thinking long-term. Yeah, trains are not immediately profitable, but clearly whatever it is they're doing is working. Selling cars makes boatloads of money short-term, but in the long-term you're going to run into serious problems, as is becoming apparent.

Rumour has it that by the 23rd century, the US will have trains that will reach speeds of up to 160 kph.

In ancient Chinese history, governments already knew that you want to build your economy, you build the road first. Low cost public transport helps to increase people movement and then business follows.

Traveling 1200 km in just 4 hours is like sci fi future kind of thing , It amazes me 😳

In China the highspeed network has been connecting almost every tier 4 cities in China and connect every Chinese together, the highspeed train network has reduce greatly the logistics cost, even a farmer in the remote rurual areas can sell his/her farming output online via 5G network and smart phone and finish delivery in 3 days at most throught cheap express companies( even the distance is up to 5,000 kms sometimes from remote Xingjiang Uygure area in the west to Shanghai in the east). Obiviously the benifets of a highspeed train can not be judged by the railway companies's profits, it should be judged by whether it bring significant changes to the remote rurual areas and improve most of citizens 's life standard.

Traveled to Xinjiang last month on train. The 1,100 mile high speed rail portion between Lanzhou and Urumqi are mostly ballastless tracks built through the red, empty, searing Gobi desert. The engineering was dazzling to watch.

China's political of will for high-speed trains does not match Wendover's political will for commercial airliners

I would like to add that the line to Urumqi does pass through quite a few strategically important cities, namely Wuwei, Zhangye, Jiuquan, Hami, and Turpan starting from Lanzhou (and remember, pretty much ANY Chinese city of second-level administrative division is populous by most other countries’ standards). Furthermore, since the line passes through mostly rural areas in difficult terrain, trains don’t run nearly as fast, but operate more like an intercity service, which reduces ticket prices even further and allows even more people, many of whom are of lower socioeconomic statuses, to travel as necessary in a reasonable amount of time.

Love China from India.❤

Transportation: (exists) Wendover Productions: *N U T*

My girlfriend lives in Shanghai and I’m from Beijing, without high speed train we will break up. Now we married 😂

High quality production. Interesting and I confess the narrator has a wonderful voice God bless.

4:36 “small cities” “3,5 Million People”

an old saying in China “you want to be rich?，build the road first”

Here in Belgium i took a "direct line" train from Ghent to Genk which distance is approx. 150 kms, it took 3,5 hours to get there...

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VIDEO 💙

Indian railways on the other hand.... Labels 60kmph trains as 'superfast'

If you try to build a train in USA you'll get about 1 lawsuit for every track section you lay.

没想到提到了我的家乡衡阳。就在十年前我来北京上学的时候，到北京要么去长沙坐飞机去北京，要么坐一天一夜的火车到北京（尽管当时觉得还挺方便的）。现在从衡阳到北京每天有两趟往返的飞机，也有高铁直接到北京大概7个小时，确实是感觉出门遛弯一样就能到往返两地，太方便了。

Not every big project in China is made for profit, some are purely for making a better society.

I have been to China recently and their high speed train system is truely impressive, Beijing to wuhan 1200Km and only 4 hours from train

China just laid 1200 miles of track while you were watching this video

From what I understand, the HSR from places like Lanzhou to Urumqui are just as much for the rural villagers in between the cities, for day workers or for farmers selling products in commercial areas. HSR connecting rural areas in the US to commerce cities would definitely alleviate some of the labor shortages caused by housing gentrification that we're seeing here.

considering they’re planning to double the massive network they already have id say the long distance routes that don’t make a lot are going to eventually become profitable

In the US we have this obsession with extracting a profit from every facet of society. A high speed rail line will never be built in the US until we realize that some things have a societal benefit even if they don't pull in revenue. After all, we realized this in the '50s and '60s when we built the interstate highway system - a socialized road network operated at a loss that provides enormous benefit to society (but was also a handout to oil and auto companies).

I think he missed a fact. 60% of China's oil is imported. It's hard to imagine if the Chinese drove between cities like the Americans. The average fuel consumed by the aircraft is even more. Trains use electricity, and China does not need to import coal or uranium for power generation.

Chines are simply amazing. They can build just about anything faster. There is very little bureaucracy in the process, no legal blockade in the way and no union contract to follow etc.

They are very, very smart people.They also produce the most computers, cars, & many electronic devices in the world

High speed train is not about only long routes, it is also beneficial for smaller routes as well. For example, I had a conference in He Chuan (合川）, which is 138 km from Chongqing（重庆）. I took the train from Chongqing, the ticket price was around 4 dollars and I reached to Hechuan in 28 minutes, cheaper, comfortable and convenient. It is one of the best mode of transportation , not only for longer routes but for shorter routes as well.

those two „small“ China cities have about the same number of residents as some European countries (Austria/Switzerland both about 8 million) Probably also one of the reasons why it makes more sense there... more customers^^

The role of high speed network contribution to China's development cannot be overstated, the high speed rail means economic progress is not congested and can easily overflow to other cities even if those cities are under developed and that's the same plan to link with other Asian countries. America was building understood the importance of railroads earlier on and then completely abandoned its infrastructure which is quite sad.

9:00 social benefit - great way of measuring.

China: "Stop bitchin' and get moving'" USA: "Stop moving and get bitchin' "

Engineer: how many miles of high-speed railways do you want to build? Chinese Government: yes

American here. The High Speed rail does have another benefit. Outside of profit. IF it’s in Schengen Europe, China, or India. For example, the Paris to Barcelona route has several cities in between that have at least 100,000 people (eg. Dijon, Lyon, Montpellier). Maybe it’s more practical to just take the plane between Paris & Barcelona. But it’s much more practical to take the train from say, Lyon to Montpelier. The point is, the HSR is beneficial for all the people living in between the destinations. BUT… That’s not usually the case in the United States. Between the Los Angeles metropolitan area and Las Vegas, there’s only one city that has 100,000 people in between. Victorville. And the distance between Victorville and Las Vegas is MASSIVE (same as Paris to Dijon, so imagine that distance with absolute nothingness). So much so, that whatever social benefits may come from having a HSR serving a very popular route just isn’t worth it compared to the amount it would cost to cover the construction of such a distance. Almost everyone who takes this ride would just get on at LA, and get off at Las Vegas. Barely anyone in between. I wouldn’t call our attitude towards it as money-hungry. Just efficient.

Here in Brazil, even if the distance between the destinies are small, the time you spend to check in, waiting on the airport, renting a car or waiting for Uber, boarding and disembarking the plane it's like 4 hours total.

I've been visiting France for a few months and I love having the option of trains... But now I want to go to china and check those out.

i am speechless. Here in Britain, we are still struggling with signal failures, wrong type of weather, still running diesel trains, power failure, leaves on the line, wrong type of snow etc. So watching this is like alien technology. Maybe the Chinese can help out here in Britain. 😂

3:37: I instantly stared because apparently a flight from Paris to Barcelona is cheaper than a flash game called The Henry Stickmin Collection..... Which is $15..

Awesome info!

1:25 writing from the future... China now has TWICE as much high-speed track as the rest of the world put together. 2/3rds of the global high-speed track is now in China.

I am from China, and I highly recommend CRH(Chinese railway high speed). The speed is fast, comfortable seats, nice view of the countryside. The first-class and business class have tv's

this is not politics. it's the advantage of socialism.

If there were a train from California to like Georgia or Virginia, or maybe even a train from Georgia or Colorado to Toronto or British Colombia. I would absolutely utilize that more than planes. Flights are soo expensive most of the time or during moments when needed, so I would definitely be open to things like trains.

I like how China despite all its problems just gets things done and fast forwards its infrastructure no matter the cost

In the 1960s a team of japanese engineers sat at a table and one said: "minnasama, the main line between Tokyo and Osaka is at the limit of it's capacity" "i know!" said an other, "let's build a dedicated line for express trains only!" 60 years later, it's the Shinkansen, the world's most densly used and profitable high-speed railway in the world. In the 1970s a team of french engineers sat at a table and one said: "monsieurs, our railways are losing passengers to airlines" "i know!" said an other ", "let's make a train that runs at 300Km/h, double the speed of our fastest conventonal train!" 50 years later, it's the TGV, wich still holds the record for the fastest train in the world. In the 1980s a team of italian engineers sat at a table and one said: "signori, our country is a rather mountainous one and our railways are rater tortuous, also we don't have the space for high-speed railways" "i know!" said an other ", "let's make a train capable of tilting in curves so it can travel at 270Km/h even on normal lines!" 40 years later, it's the Pendolino, a revolutionary technology exported almost evrywhere in the world. In the 1990s a team of german engineers sat at a table and one said: "now that the east and west Germany are united politically, we need to unite them economically and socially." "i know!" said an other ", "let's run our ICE trains part on high-speed lines part on normal ones, we need to unite the country first, Ja? speed can and will come later." 30 years later Germany is seamless one, united. and Berlin is linked to evry other major german cities in less than 3 hours. In the 2000s a team of chinese party officials sat at a table and one said: "comrades!, our economy is growing, and we need a development strategy that does not relies on foreign imports in the long term", "i know!" said an other ", "let's build high-speed lines, we lack in technology but we could import it from Japan, Italy, France and Germany and then learn to make our own!" 20 years later it's the CRH, world's largest high speed network more than all the other high-speed railways combined. Then, in the 2010s, the american congress met in the US Capitol, and one said "our cities are choking with cars and pollution and our pubblic transport infrastructure is crumbling and inadequate, shouldn't we look to other countries to find a solution?", "nah" said an other, "we need more cars, because freedom. and indipendence. Let's rather spend hundreds of billions dollars on a plane that does not fly." 10 years later, it's still at the starting point. and it looks like it won't move for a very long time.

One side of my family lives in Guangzhou, whilst the other lives in Beijing. Having tried taking high speed rail and flying between both cities, I can say with confidence that high speed rail is the cheaper, more comfortable and more convenient mode of transport, despite taking 4 hours longer than flying. Unlike planes, Chinese high speed rail is a turn up and go service, that meshes with the extensive public transport in Guangzhou and Beijing. A 2000 km trip on one fast train.

China is good in building anything. They actually built a massive Green Great Wall that pushed desert back hundreds of kilometers. And they built a water channel that transport water from south to the north, over thousand miles of distance. Let's don't even talk about the massive highways, trains, bridges, and powerlines. People are amazed by the high speed train simply because they are more visible.

Because they build them instead of talking or thinking about building them.

I came from Jingmen, a small city in middle China. I've lived in the United States for almost 10 years. Traveling back to my hometown was a nightmare before my hometown was connected to the high-speed train system. I took a 17-hour flight from Chicago to Beijing, then a 1.5-hour transfer from Beijing International Airport to the train station, then a 5-hour bullet train to the provincial capital Wuhan, then a 3-hour SLOW train or BUS through high-way to my hometown. I lose 5 pounds for each travel. After my hometown connected to the system, I can take a 5.5 -hours bullet train from Beijing to my hometown directly after arriving at Beijing train station. This saves me lots of efforts. I heard that the new Beijing airport under construction is supposed to directly connect to the bullet train station. That means I can take the bullet train right after my flight. Also, I heard they are going to release a special bullet train with beds so people like me can rest after the long flight. I can't wait for that day to come!

The comment section is kind of missing the point. Yes public infra does not need to be "profitable". But, the funding has to come from SOMEWHERE. Chinese government taking lots of debt to build and to maintain the infra. The idea of public infra is that, in the future the infrastructure would (ideally) generate an economic activity in the area which then the government can tax. This tax income then is channeled into paying the debt (+ interest) and the cost to maintain the infra. So yes, the government, in a way, expect to have "profit", although not directly from the use of the train. Chinese government focus on building infra is great, but one may have to ponder whether this is a wise investment given that the demands for lots of the high speed rail is very low. This might mean the promised economic activity that is expected to be able to sustain the debt might not be there.

A three-year-old video was suddenly in my feed, I wondered why until I see the Urumqi and Lanzhou train part. What I want to weigh in is that there must have been some political concerns, but it still mainly was just for the development of some rural areas. Build the road and they will come is still pretty applicable in many regions in China nad most of them worked.

I am living in New York City. Believe or not, I spend 2 hours on the train to my work place. And the rat is sitting next to me.

Because they don't have GM or Ford lobbying against it

Excellent. Thank you.

As a Canadian who lives in a city where city bus fair is $3 it's unbelievable a plane ticket from two major European cities could cost $12. Canadian also has some of the highest (if not the highest) costs of flights too so it's even more crazy to me.

I live in Shenzhen. We are above in Hong Kong. If I took the bus then metro into Hong Kong, it would take 2 hours. Now with the high speed rail connecting the major cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and HK, the trip takes 17 minutes. A train ride from Beijing to Shenzhen takes about 12 hours or less. AND IT IS CHEAP

USA oil companies and flight companies will try everything to stop the development of high speed railways in North America. Lobby.

Sydney to Melbourne is about 800km and Lanzhou to Urumqi is about 1,900 km. They both take 11 hours on train 🤯🤯🤯

I’m very excited to see the technological developments in transport throughout the worlds in the next 10-20 years. Electric Cars will definitely become widespread, Electric Planes will likely become more adopted by smaller airlines and hopefully there will be improvements to public transport not just including High Speed railways (in the US). The future holds lots of promising opportunity.

China:要想富先修路。Translation:”If you want to get rich, build a road first.” Western: politics.

I've been on Chinese High Speed trains all around the country. They are really amazing. Good price. Very reliable. Fast, comfortable. 中国的高铁非常好！！！

Parts of Australia's Melbourne to Sydney line get limited to 80km/h if the weather is hot

Quite a contrast from Economics Explained. Not opposites but very different perspectives. Good stuff!

You forgot to mention that the high speed railway has much lower carbon footprint comparing with plane and cars. It is a more eco friendly way of travel.

Wendover like planes and trains. I like them too.

We need one in australia, sydney to canberra to melbourne would be awesome

Like the video very much. Hope there more.

Awesome service. I took a high speed train from Harbin to Jinan. 1800 km and it did it in 7 hours on a train that runs hourly. It was -25º C when we left and -8º C at the destination. It only stopped 6 times during that journey. It has wider more comfortable seats than any airline I have ever flown on. You have to reconcile the knowledge that if there is a derailment, that about twelve railway carriages travelling at 320kph are going to go up your arse in about 3 seconds, but try not to think about that...

don't forget they built great wall 2000 years ago.

Ive been in those trains and it was goin at a speed of f1 formula racecar but but i felt barely a pressure

China is so good at building railways is because they really built a lot along the way all over china, they studied almost all kinds of ground conditions and difficulties that may happen...experienced

Public transportation isn't about profitability. Good for China and the Chinese

Meanwhile England take a decade to patch a road

I'd be curious to know how much their economy benefits from having such rail infrastructure - probably a big boost. Which is not properly understood by a number of countries (Australia, US) which just can't be bothered with developing high speed rail.

i feel like the title should be "why is everyone else so bad at building railways"

Chinese government always do more and talk less.

My mom's family is actually from Hengyang. That station 45 mins away from the city center is not only serving that city but also many towns around it. In many cases, a couple of cities share one station (but it might be named after the biggest one).

Really wish Canada had it. But I'm sure they'd overprice it just like their airlines

why do only i acknowledge this guy‘s effort he puts in the right pronounciation of chinese city names?

I fly to China for work often. Last time I went I landed in HK, took MTR to West Kowloon station straight from the airport. Then took the high speed train to Humen and subway to Dongguan. What a great and convenient experience, better than anything we have in the US. Trains are all very clean, stations are super safe (like pretty much everywhere in China and HK) and quite fast, I think we were cruising at about 270km/h. Fares are decently cheap and easy to book online. Trains are always on time in my experience. First time is a little daunting but the workers are very helpful. Quite a few of them know enough English and will point you on the right direction.

Man,the economic benefits of high-speed rail are not only just “train tickets”

Saying China is poor to have such a big high speed railway network is trully misleading. GDP per capita is a just nice number to look at but nothing more. Lastly China is the second biggest economy with most of its top companies being state owned or having the majority of the shares. Together with the fact that China doesn't change its government body every 4-5 years allows for long term projects to be concieved with more ease.

Love it or hate it, China are currently the Dragon on the east. And yes No one can doubt that

It's incredibly smart of them to do this. They build it now while labour costs are still cheap which, if their economy continues to grow at the rate it has, won't be the case in 30 years. They're building future friendly infrastructure which absolutely makes sense when you thing about how oil depletion looms.