The problem with High Speed Rail lines spread out over such vast distances is the cost-effectiveness of having to keep such infrastructure in tip-top shape commensurate to the amount of traffic running over it. China has spent all those billions building that new line to Tibet over permafrost (a maintenance nightmare) and they're not running all that many trains over it. This is one of the advantages of jet airplanes. You can achieve very fast speeds, in many cases much more than what a train could match, and there's not all of that infrastructure to have to maintain.

I think China is already running up against a wall on this. Check out this video where a guy rode a HS train and it looks like one of the wheels was "out of round" -- egg shaped. His drink was dancing all around on his tray table. When the trains derail and get into horrendous wrecks due to deferred maintenance, the government comes in and performs a cover-up that's on a par with what the Seret Service is doing in explaining Butler, PA. Kimberly Cheatle should get a job with the Chinese National Railways.

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