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China's Politically Powered High Speed Rail


https://youtu.be/0JDoll8OEFE

This is the best and most succinct YouTube video that I've seen which points out the political motivations behind China's high speed rail development.

Basically it makes no economic sense as a for profit enterprise.  But it make every bit of sense as a political operation to overwhelm both ethnic minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet and democracy leaning Han Chinese in Hong Kong.

Like everywhere else, private enterprise won't build infrastructure in China because it's not profitable. 

But with massive government subsidies to lower the cost of travel by rail and Beijing shouldering the debt from construction, then private companies are quite happy to apply themselves to high speed rail.

By Wendover Productions
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