Chinese have never lacked "infrastructure soul", in ancient times there were super projects such as Dayu to control water, Yugong to move mountains, as well as the Great Wall of China, Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal and other super projects, and now there are "9 hours to complete the renovation project of a railway station", "30,000 tons of station translation nearly 300 meters", and even a big turn of 90 degrees.
In the past decade, China has even been called an "infrastructure madman" on overseas social platforms due to its efficient construction speed, and has been praised and watched by foreign netizens. Even American entrepreneur Elon Musk has praised the speed of China's advanced infrastructure.
Recently, in the last month of 2023, China has opened 8 high-speed rail lines one after another, with a cumulative mileage of more than 800 kilometers. And throughout 2023, China will have more than 2,500 kilometers of new high-speed railways, bringing the total mileage of high-speed railways to nearly 450,000 km. China's infrastructure strength is terrifying, and it is really not boasting.
In fact, in 2023, not only China will open high-speed rail, but the United States will actually open it.
According to the Observer, in September last year, the "high-speed rail" line between Miami and Orlando in Florida in the southern United States was officially put into operation. It is understood that this is the first new line opened by a private railway passenger company in the United States in the past 100 years.
However, in fact, the first phase of this "high-speed rail" line has been opened in 2018, but it shares the track with the freight railway company, so the speed is not high (the maximum speed is about 126 kilometers), and the newly opened section does not have a big impact on traffic, so it has not caused much sensation.
In the second phase of this new opening, most of the mileage is still borrowed from the track of the freight railway company (about 192 kilometers), and the maximum speed has been increased, but it is only 176 kilometers, and only a small number of sections (about 56 kilometers) are dedicated to high-speed rail, and the maximum speed can reach 200 kilometers, which can barely be classified as a high-speed railway. The full journey of 378 kilometers takes 35 hours, only 30 minutes less than a car trip, the speed advantage is not obvious.
And according to the official definition of the United States itself, a speed higher than 200 kilometers can be counted as high-speed rail, so to be precise, the United States will actually only open 56 kilometers of high-speed rail in 2023. This is really a bit unsightly compared to China.
I believe that some friends will find it very strange, it stands to reason that the strength of the United States is not bad, why is it very weak in the matter of high-speed rail, is it too late for the United States to develop high-speed rail?But in fact, the United States is one of the first major countries in the world to plan the development of high-speed rail, so why is it helpless on the matter of high-speed rail?
In fact, it is because of the "word interest", you must know that the aviation and automotive industry in the United States is developing rapidly, and by the end of 2022, the United States has 20,061 airports, including 417 commercial airports. In addition, low oil prices have brought car ownership to 283.2 billion units. In the United States, people choose cars for short-distance travel and airplanes for long-distance travel, while the 220,000-kilometer railroad is mainly used for medium-distance transportation.
That means building high-speed rail requires greater investment, but in the U.S., there are partisanship and governors serving short terms, often only two consecutive terms, which could lead to high-speed rail projects under construction being blocked by a change of leadership. The high-speed rail project involves the interests of railways, petroleum, automobiles, aviation, road construction and other industries, and all parties do not want the United States to open high-speed rail.
In addition, the United States has a vast territory and a relatively sparse population, and the construction cost of high-speed rail is high. Although the United States is only 230,000 square kilometers apart in land area compared to China, the population of the United States is just over a quarter of China's. As we all know, high-speed rail is a project that requires huge investment and has a long payback period, and if the amount is small, the effective operation of high-speed rail cannot be realized.
In general, it is the "opportunism" in the bones of the United States, which is trying to abandon the railroad in the name of the market with the chicken feathers of "not increasing the burden on taxpayers". Su Kui, an expert in China's Internet research, commented that opportunism cannot fulfill the US dream of high-speed rail.
In fact, many countries have the same common problem as the United States, India and South Korea, where partisanship is extremely serious, especially India, if it is not supported by Modi's thunderous means, India is now a hodgepodge of different cultures. With different cultures and beliefs, how can there be cohesion to work together to do a good job?