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China's high speed rail costs less than opportunity cost of transport projects. They're making money building it, especially when debt is cheap. And debt was ch
by shortsunblack 3y ago
China's high speed rail costs less than opportunity cost of transport projects. They're making money building it, especially when debt is cheap. And debt was cheap for quite a while until recently.
Not to mention, the economies of scale have decreased the costs exponentially over time. This is true for metro lines, as well. China builds metro for the cost of some countries building high speed rail.
- maxglute 3y ago>They're making money building it That's without mentioning PRC _HAS_ to rely on HSR. 90% people on east half of country = not enough flight corridors, which is already highly congested. Only mass transit solution left is HSR, build off domestic tech stack = 100s of billions not going to Boeing or Airbus. Also helps with energy security since it's electrified = 100s of billions saved on oil imports. Indepth analysis of HSR shows roughly 8% return. Win-win-win all around. Same with all the infra building, especially transportation networks in mountainous regions. Bridges that saves a millions of kms of travel = less fossil fuel short term and less energy storage medium long term. Convert steel and concrete into short/medium/long term energy savings.