Thursday, January 26, 2006

In China, passenger trains are mass transportation.

Newsweek reports that over the Lunar New Year period, some 144 million Chinese will travel by train. That's about 11% of the population.

Compare that with the United States. AAA estimated that 63.5 million Americans traveled at least 50 miles over the Christmas-New Year period. Of those, 12 million went by common carrier: plane, train or bus combined.

What makes China's mass holiday movement possible is that China continues to invest in its railway network: between expansion and modernization, some $20 billion this year alone. And we're not talking about a Riding the Iron Rooster network anymore. China's rail network includes a new rail line to Tibet as well as a 19-mile maglev line connecting Shanghai's airport and central business district.

Investment in the passenger-train network yields significant social benefits. You get what you pay for.

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