THE rapid growth of rail in China is one of, if not the, major railway success story of the past 15 years. The latest flurry of new line openings at the end of June to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party was remarkable for being unremarkable; we are now used to the regular completion of projects on a scale that much of the rest of the world can only dream of replicating. Rail's growth in China has mirrored rapid urbanisation and the maturation of the Chinese economy, which is projected to surpass the United States as the world's largest as early as 2028. With a 38,000km high-speed network connecting all major cities, the impression in recent years has been of a slow down in Chinese network expansion. Reports suggested that the focus was shifting to smaller regional and infill projects, and encouraging more people to board trains to grow revenue for China National Railway to recoup at least some of its vast investment.
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