Length of express railways in China 2008-2021

As of 2021, the operation length of the high-speed rail (HSR) in China amounted to around 40,000 kilometers. It accounts for 26.7 percent of China’s railroad network, which currently was about 150,000 kilometers long.

Significant investment in HSR expansion

Since 2003, when China operated its first high-speed rail line from Qinhuangdao to Shenyang (now part of the Beijing-Harbin Railway), its high-speed rail network has been expanding rapidly. Currently, China has the longest HSR network in the world. China's central government has identified financing for new transportation infrastructure as an effective way to promote sustainable economic growth, and HSR is one of the key investments. In 2020 alone, China's investment in intercity HSR and rail transit was estimated to be worth 800 billion yuan, adding about 2,520 kilometers of new HSR lines into operation. By 2030, China’s extensive operating HSR network was estimated to increase to 45,000 kilometers.

HSR transport shows signs of recovery

Intercity travel service in China has been largely disrupted because of urban lockdowns caused by the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020. In that year, China’s HSR ridership was slashed by about 32 percent to only 1.56 billion. A sign of recovery comes after a year in which the number of high-speed rail passengers grew by 23 percent to 1.9 billion. As the largest and busiest HSR route in China in terms of passenger volume, The Beijing-Shanghai HSR line generated about 10 billion yuan in passenger revenue in 2021, about 31 percent higher than in 2020.