The China Daily, an English-language Chinese newspaper, reported on February 6th that a new high-speed rail line went into operation Saturday, connecting the two cities of Zhengzhou and Xi'an. The travel time between these two provincial capitals has now been cut from over six hours to less than two hours, traveling at approximately 155 miles per hour. This railway cost $5.17 billion to build and is part of a national plan for more than 74,000 miles of track to be laid by 2020. Let that sink in for a second: 74,000 miles. That is enough track to cross the United States at its widest point 25 times! Better yet, that is enough track to go around the entire world three times!
This should be alarming to anyone who is concerned about the economic standing of the United States in the twenty first century. I blogged last week about how in the U.S. we simply don't get it when it comes to high-speed rail. Well guess what? China gets it!
In my U.S. Foreign Policy class we have talked about the United States' position as the only global hegemon since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the very real threat that China poses to that status. In other words, we may be the top dog, but probably not for long! In addition to China, India and Japan have become centers for innovation while we're still stuck in a rut. In The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman, young Indians talk about how they used to have to come to the U.S. to receive quality higher education, but that is not so much the case anymore. It is now the case that college graduates in the U.S. are not competing regionally or nationally for jobs, but globally. Now, to top it all off, China is seriously ahead of the game on us when it comes to transportation.
Looking back, many observers agree that the Federal Highway Act of 1956 was pivotal in making the U.S. the global power it is today. However, it wasn't an easy decision at the time. It required a HUGE investment of $25 billion. That is close to $200 billion in 2010 dollars, but the investment paid off by allowing goods to be shipped and people to be moved much more efficiently. Now, we have an opportunity to revolutionize our transportation system once more. Instead of shipping goods cross-country at 60 mph, we could do it at 150 mph; using much less energy in the process! If you ask me, this is one issue where we need to look to China for the answer.
Photo Source: China Daily/Xinhua
This should be alarming to anyone who is concerned about the economic standing of the United States in the twenty first century. I blogged last week about how in the U.S. we simply don't get it when it comes to high-speed rail. Well guess what? China gets it!
In my U.S. Foreign Policy class we have talked about the United States' position as the only global hegemon since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the very real threat that China poses to that status. In other words, we may be the top dog, but probably not for long! In addition to China, India and Japan have become centers for innovation while we're still stuck in a rut. In The World is Flat, by Thomas Friedman, young Indians talk about how they used to have to come to the U.S. to receive quality higher education, but that is not so much the case anymore. It is now the case that college graduates in the U.S. are not competing regionally or nationally for jobs, but globally. Now, to top it all off, China is seriously ahead of the game on us when it comes to transportation.
Looking back, many observers agree that the Federal Highway Act of 1956 was pivotal in making the U.S. the global power it is today. However, it wasn't an easy decision at the time. It required a HUGE investment of $25 billion. That is close to $200 billion in 2010 dollars, but the investment paid off by allowing goods to be shipped and people to be moved much more efficiently. Now, we have an opportunity to revolutionize our transportation system once more. Instead of shipping goods cross-country at 60 mph, we could do it at 150 mph; using much less energy in the process! If you ask me, this is one issue where we need to look to China for the answer.
Photo Source: China Daily/Xinhua
That's really cool. It's great that it cut the time down so significantly between the two cities. I really think putting a high speed train across America would be very beneficial.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really interesting blog. I didn't realize how far behind the U.S. really is in its railway transportation. The U.S. should definitley consider putting something like this in our country. I feel that it would really help out our economy, once we got passed the cost of building it.
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