[_coldfire]

A solid overview of Chinese HSR:

http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/high-speed/chinese-high...

>In 2013, Chinese high-speed traffic reached 214 billion passenger-km, slightly more traffic than the rest of the world's high-speed networks combined

>the CRC network is already one of the most densely used in the world, with robust growth between 2009 and 2013. Overall passenger traffic grew by 5.5% per year during this period reaching 2.1 billion passengers or 1060 billion passenger-km in 2013. Railfreight grew by 6% per year to 3.6 billion tonnes, or 2633 billion tonne-km in 2013. These are large volumes compared with the size of the network (103,100km in 2013).

[seanmcdirmid]

http://www.rediff.com/business/report/pix-beijing-shanghai-b...

> Although the railway authority has said that the Beijing- Shanghai high-speed railway was the only profitable high-speed rail in China in the past five years, some believe that other lines in densely-populated and developed regions will likely become profitable soon.

Only Beijing to Shanghai is making a profit ATM (flying is still cheaper on that route, but airport delays are way too bad).

[_coldfire]

Train networks around the world are usually subsidised and run at a loss, it's hardly unique to China.

[seanmcdirmid]

China is running at a loss in the billions. In 2018 when the first HSR bonds start coming due, it could be quite a shock.