China to spend $500 Billion by 2020 to build new high speed rail links

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By Matthew Griffin Future Transport 4th January 2017

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Many countries believe that having strong infrastructure helps their economies grow and thrive, and China is out investing everyone.

The Chinese government plans to expand the country’s high-speed rail network to 18,600 miles by 2020, part of public infrastructure spending aimed at shoring up economic growth.

Speaking at a briefing earlier this week Vice Transport Minister Yang Yudong said that overall China plans to invest over $500 billion in constructing new railways between now and 2020 in order to connect over 80% of all its major cities to the network and it’s planned that this latest initiative will add an extra 9,000 miles of high speed track to a network which already covers over 12,000 miles.

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The plans call for the renovation of expressways and faster construction of railways to serve less well developed regions in central and western China in the hope that it will boost economic growth as China experiences it’s sixth consecutive year of slow growth as it tries to move itself away from a manufacturing economy to more of a services led economy so the new announcement comes hot on the heels of other big investments in infrastructure and public works. It’s also a technology that the Chinese are keen to export – for example to the UK, and other countries who are also bolstering their own high speed rail networks.

Last Wednesday, China began operating a new high-speed rail line linking the financial hub of Shanghai in the east with Kunming, the capital of southwestern Yunnan province, a poorer region which spans 1,400 miles across five provinces, cutting travel time to just 11 hours, down from 35 hours.

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Matthew Griffin, described as “The Adviser behind the Advisers” and a “Young Kurzweil,” is the founder and CEO of the World Futures Forum and the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures consultancy working across the next 50 years, and is an award winning futurist, and author of “Codex of the Future” series.

Regularly featured in the global media, including AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, RT, Viacom, and WIRED, Matthew’s ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of revolutionary emerging technologies on global culture, industry and society, is unparalleled. Recognised for the past six years as one of the world’s foremost futurists, innovation and strategy experts Matthew is an international speaker who helps governments, investors, multi-nationals and regulators around the world envision, build and lead an inclusive, sustainable future.

A rare talent Matthew’s recent work includes mentoring Lunar XPrize teams, re-envisioning global education and training with the G20, and helping the world’s largest organisations envision and ideate the future of their products and services, industries, and countries.

Matthew's clients include three Prime Ministers and several governments, including the G7, Accenture, Aon, Bain & Co, BCG, Credit Suisse, Dell EMC, Dentons, Deloitte, E&Y, GEMS, Huawei, JPMorgan Chase, KPMG, Lego, McKinsey, PWC, Qualcomm, SAP, Samsung, Sopra Steria, T-Mobile, and many more.