[lbo-talk] Chinese high-speed rail to Europe?

Max Sawicky sawicky at verizon.net
Tue Mar 16 07:15:23 PDT 2010


I'm predisposed to Big Gov and more rail, but one does need to be careful about HSR advocacy. This is inter-city travel; we're not talking about commuting. It has limited effects on inter-city highway travel (and associated congestion & fuel use), more effect on air. Over a certain range it can be very competitive with air, but these systems are expensive and entail displacing homeowners and neighborhoods. Intercity rail presumes that travelers can afford cab-fare and car rental at their destinations, insofar as regional transit is lacking. Not always a good thing for the working class. The humble bus can be a superior option in some circumstances.

On Tue, Mar 16, 2010 at 9:31 AM, John Gulick <john_gulick at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Sandy Harris says:
>
>>China already has a large high-speed rail network and is aggressively
> expanding it.
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>>Recently opened Guangzhou-Wuhan line covers over 1000 km (600-odd miles)
>  in
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>>three hours. Lines ten years old, like Hangzhou-Shanghai-Nanjing, that
> run at only
>
>>250 km/hr (150 mph) are being upgraded.
>
> JG says:
>
> Hong Kong native, Giovanni Arrighi progeny, and University of Indiana sociologist Ho-fung
> Hung claims that China's high-speed rail investments are part of the problem -- sops
> to the PRC's public-private state capitalists, further overcapacity in physical infrastructure --
> and not part of the solution -- subsidies and income in the hands of China's bottom 80%
> of households. According to Hung, the vast chunk of China's $600 billion stimpak ended
> up in real estate, company shares, overinvested mega-projects and industrial stock. The
> PRC's household spending as a % of GDP remains woefully low and hasn't budged an inch.
> What happens if the US launches a full-scale trade war? Maybe that's why China's financial
> authorities might actually reinstitute the controlled floating yuan peg, although in a manner
> that does not betray capitulation to Obama Admin-Congressional pressure.
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