High-speed railway in China – statistics & facts
During the former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's visit to Japan in 1978, he experienced the world’s first high-speed train, “Shinkansen” (also known as the bullet train). This kicked off the awareness of high-speed railroads (HSR) in mainland China. Twenty-five years later, the first Chinese HSR system connecting Qinhuangdao to Shenyang (now part of the Beijing-Harbin Railway) was operated with a length of 404 kilometers (km) and a speed of 250km per hour. The rate at which China’s extensive express network has been built is staggering. To date, China owns the largest HSR system in the world, with a total operating high-speed rail network of 48,000 kilometers in 2024. This stands over three times the HSR distance of the European Union’s. China is now established as a rolling stock powerhouse that competes at the global level. By 2024, China operated a total of 4,806 (standard high-speed electric multiple units). In addition, the country has most of the world's fastest trains, such as the CRRC Qingdao Sifang 2021 Maglev train, with a record speed of 600 km per hour.
