We hear about China's high speed rail network all the time, but what about freight rail?
Anyone knows how well developed the freight network is? In terms of connectivity to ports, international connections, integration with other forms of transport etc
China is building another 35000 KM of high-speed rail in the next 15 years, many of it for the 350 km/h standard, a lot of them parallel to the existing trunk routes. This can free up the older, somewhat slower HSR lines that were built in the 2010s for freight use.
Before the HSR building boom of the last decade, there had been fierce debates in China about whether it was wise to invest so much in an expensive HSR network vs. more freight lines. I have to say the latter made a lot of sense at the time, since the majority of the revenue for China Railways Corp were from freights whereas passenger traffic were subsidized and fares were price-controlled. Traditionally, the highest priority for Chinese railways were to transport natural resources (particularly coals) from the North and West to the more industrialized South and East. The had been the geo-economic reality of China for much of the people's republic since its founding days. Plus, there was the concern that most of the Chinese populace could not afford the HSR fare prices, turning the huge investment into white elephant.
It's a strategic bet, in a way, on Chinese economy.
And It has paid off.
HSR has changed China, riding on the booming Chinese economy of the last decade. HSR is now the primary means of rail transportation, surpassing the more conventional slow-speed railways. It's transformed cities and integrated much more closely Chinese economy and society. While it'll take decades to recover the investments - as it should be and only feasible for a government with long-term strategic planning- some of the lines have become very profitable, for example, the Beijing-Shanghai HSR line. This particular line has gone public to raise more funding. Meanwhile, the economic landscape of China has changed significantly in the last decade. The bulk freight demands have not be as large long as expected, as China continues to build nuclear power plants on the coast, natural gas transported in pipelines and LNG are imported to the coastal provinces from overseas, and build-out of the high-voltage transmission lines nationally, etc. The small-package freight though has taken off, e.g. ecommerce. They can be handled by the existing conventional railways and even HSR when there are demand surges like the double 11 event.
China will continue to build out its HSR network, eventually turning it into a "national metro" system. It'll be something you only find in China.
