Railways are a vital aspect of China’s transportation system. Considering China’s land size, the methods of planning and funding behind this system must be immense, and constantly shifting along with China’s political changes from the Qing dynasty to the present. China’s railway system has developed at an enormous speed in the last few decades, with China now boasting the world’s largest network of high-speed trains. But the country doesn’t plan to stop there; the future of its railway system looks enormous, well advanced and most of all, extremely ambitious. Let’s take a look at how this mammoth system has and continues to develop and grow. 

China’s high-speed railway. Photo: Tauno Tõhk

The past

During the late 19th century, in the Qing dynasty, the first railways were built in China. The First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 further stimulated the railway network’s development, as the need for transport of people and resources picked up drastically. By the time the Qing dynasty collapsed in 1911, there were a total of 9,000 km of rails in China, designed with Beijing as the center of the network.

The Republic of China quickly realized that railways were vital, but its maintenance slipped as the government nationalized its management. Only the most important railways were improved and preserved. A change came with the People’s Republic of China, whose administration actually restored the unusable parts of the railway network, and brought it back to the full 22,000 km. However, the shifting political environment at the time definitely had an impact on the situation.

For example, the Great Leap Forward promised a specific focus on improving on the railway system and expanding it; however, as happened with the rest of the country throughout many different sectors, results did not turn out as expected. The disastrous outcomes of the Great Leap Forward throughout the entire country meant that railway expansion was delayed.

The same thing happened with the onset of the Cultural Revolution in the mid to late 1960s, when management of the national railway network was passed onto the military, leading to a very rapid decline in management. This was mainly a result of capital being actively directed towards and invested in economic activities that provided higher economic returns. It was not until the 1990s that investment became purposefully redirected towards the railway network. This happened because it became clear that in order for the whole of China to prosper, and food and resource distribution to even out, the connection between the city and the countryside, as well as the east and west, had to improve.

The present

As of 2013, China boasts 103,144 km of railways, making it the third longest network in the world. Operations, as of March 2013, are handled by a state-owned enterprise. The system, however, is under heavy pressure, and currently ranks amongst the busiest networks throughout the entire world. The network is particularly strained during periods of traditional Chinese celebrations such as Spring Festival. To put this into context; in 2006, the Chinese railway network transported a quarter of the world’s railway traffic on only 6% of the world’s railway tracks.

Expansion of the tracks has presented nation-wide issues, ranging from terrain problems to financial obstacles, and to a fear of accidents and problems with accountability. Firstly, the west of the country, where the railway network is largely underdeveloped, has difficult terrain to manage. Large sections of the country are at a high altitude, and present  mountainous terrain. Secondly, the Chinese railway industry is already in the red. The rail industry seems to be taking on the same pattern as many other state-owned enterprises, where massive spending on projects has helped boost GDP, but are actually responsible for increasing debt as activities are not as productive as expected.

In January this year, the China Railway Group’s president committed suicide, leaving behind a debt-plagued company and railway industry, as well as rumors of corruption. The company had debts of 531.9 billion RMB, with an incredibly high debt-to-asset ratio of nearly 85%.

And, thirdly, there are problems with fear and accidents. Increasing trajectories of high-speed railways have led to a couple of deadly accidents in the past five years. The first collision, in Wenzhou, comes to mind as this accident in 2011 led to the question; are trains going too fast? Two trains collided on a viaduct, as they derailed each other, leaving 40 people dead and 192 people injured. Although high-speed rail accidents happen around the world, the issue of accountability will always be brought up in a Chinese context.

The future

However, none of the above-mentioned issues seem to be stopping China as it elaborated on plans to further expand the railway system last month. Plans include a China-Russia-Canada-America line, which would expand to a total of 13,00 km, including a 200 km long tunnel under the Bering Strait. It is expected to take two days to get to the US from China with this train, at an average speed of 350 km per hour.

These are not the only plans that China has, as they also proposed a line running through Kazakhstan and through eastern Siberia and one through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Iran and Turkey, and eventually through to Germany.

Other than connecting its own territory to other parts of the world, China has also reached formal agreements with Kenya to build a new railway line in Eastern Africa. This railway will be 90% funded by the Chinese, and will run from Mombasa to Nairobi, and also extend towards Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and South Sudan.

These ambitious plans have caused suspicion on an international level, as the world feels that this is yet another way for China to demonstrate its new-found assertiveness. On top of that, worries over financial troubles in the Chinese railway sector have caused suspicion over whether these projects are financially viable. Only time can tell whether China’s railway network will achieve the breadth and success it so greatly strives to achieve.

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Keywords: high-speed railway China’s railway network China’s transportation system