China’s military has pulled ahead of the rest of the world in terms of its high-speed rail capabilities, which include a network that spans the country and the world’s fastest train, the Shanghai Maglev, which travels 30 kilometers (about 18.6 miles) in 8 minutes.
China’s high-speed rail network overshadows Japan, the inventor of ultrafast “bullet train” high-speed rail, and vastly outperforms the United States’ high-speed rail networks. The network not only serves citizens who need to travel but can also provide the country with several military advantages.
Railways have always been used as mobility tools for soldiers and ammunition. Given that China’s railroads span the country’s width and length and run at speeds far higher than in other countries, they can serve as a strategic advantage for speed across the nation.
China is not only building railways at home but also funding the “Belt and Roads Initiative,” a multinational infrastructure project. The initiative has led to the construction of railroads, economic hubs, and industrial areas in Pakistan, India, Iran, Southeast Asia, most African nations, Argentina, and several former Soviet-bloc nations.
Although some see it as a benevolent means of developing other countries, others see it as a “Trojan horse for China-led regional development and military expansion.”
Heng Sinith/Associated Press
In Eastern Europe, for example, where China is working on a high-speed rail line from Belgrade to Budapest, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic has labeled the project “a miracle.”
However, political opposition figures such as Peter Marki-Zay who challenged Hungarian President Viktor Orban in 2022, said: “Everything is about corruption in these Russian, Chinese business dealings,” adding, “The population centers within Hungary like Szeged and Kecskemet are not on the route of this new railway, so it doesn’t even make sense for Hungarians.”
Compared to China, the United States has very few high-speed rail services. The Northeast of the country has the Acela, which can run up to 150 mph, but its average speed is about half that due to aging infrastructure along the routes.
Florida just received the Brightline train, which runs at 125 mph and has been praised by lawmakers as “the future of transportation.” A Brightline train is also currently being built between Nevada and Southern California.
Yuan Yi/Beijing Youth Daily/VCG via AP
These trains do not match up to the 27,000 km (about 16,777 miles) worth of rail tracks across China, which only began construction on its high-speed rail in 2008 and has already built a network that covers 33 out of 34 of the country’s provinces.
The network includes bullet trains that can run up to 350 km/h (about 217.5 mph), and the country is researching how to build a train that can run as fast as 450 km/h (about 279.6 mph).
According to a piece by Rajesh Uppan in International Defense Security and Technology (IDST), China uses laser technology to monitor the wind fields along a train’s route to enhance safety and help with future train designs and developments.
Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about this article? Contact  LiveNews@newsweek.com
