China's high-speed railway is currently the world's largest high-speed railway network. On August 16, 1999, China's first passenger dedicated line Qin Shenke officially started construction. On October 12, 2003, Qin Shenke was officially opened to traffic. As of December 2018, the total mileage reached 29,000 kilometers, of which the operation speed can reach 300 kilometers, the total mileage exceeds 10,000 kilometers, accounting for more than 2/3 of the world. There are 30 provincial-level administrative regions including the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to open high-speed rail; The high-speed railway line in mainland China is still under construction and it is expected that a high-speed railway network of about 38,000 kilometers will be built in 2025.
China has a large population and frequent flows, and there is a huge demand for high-speed railways as mass transit vehicles. The climate and terrain vary across China and pose challenges for high-speed rail construction. Therefore, China has built a unique line construction, operation and dispatching system, communication and network systems, machinery and materials to create high-speed rails for different climates and different terrains, such as the Harbin High-speed Railway, which has passed the minus 40-degree high-altitude zone. A high-speed railway around the island and the southernmost high-speed rail, the Hainan round-the-island high-speed rail that crosses the tropics and the typhoon, the Lanxin high-speed rail and the tunnel that exceeds the total length by half.
China's high-speed rail has caused major changes in people's lives and working methods, promoted economic development along the road, and made China further move toward a "high-speed rail society", making neighboring provinces a day-long living circle. At present, there is no railway operation area with a speed of more than 200 kilometers per hour. There are only Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, which is constructing high-speed rail, and the Macao Special Administrative Region and Tibet Autonomous Region, which have no high-speed rail plan. In mainland China, the high-speed railway line includes the passenger dedicated line, the intercity line, the national railway primary line, and the existing transformation line. At present, the newly developed technology using construction experience can start to enter overseas and participate in the contracting competition for exporting high-speed rail, such as the Turkish high-speed train, the Indonesian high-speed rail, and the US West Express.
