Why does China build many high-speed rails, why doesn't China spend this sum of money in develo air travel like USA?

为什么中国不像美国那样优先发展航空业，而是建了这么多高铁呢？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Daniel Finn

Exactly ! Those stupid Chinese ! Who the hell do they think they are,building a super fast highly effective mode of transportation for their country ! They should try and have a crumbling infrastructure like that of the USA… Just because America does something one way doesn't mean every other method is wrong, or inferior. Why would countries that have been around for thousand of years take advice from the USA ?

就是说啊！中国人为自己的国家打造一种超级高效的交通方式！他们应该学美国，到处都是破败不堪的基础设施......美国采用了某种方式，并不意味着别人选择的方式就是错误的，就是有问题的。拥有几千年文明史的中国为什么要对美国言听计从呢？

Karl Young

After reading all 23 answers, I really need to make an input here. I’ve been on trains in China that burned coal with lots of black smoke (many moons ago), just like in the old Western movies in the U.S. Today’s trains in China are electric, quiet, clean, comfortable and most/all have free Internet access.

There are three seat classes on Chinese high-speed rail (HSR): 2nd Class, 1st Class and Business Class. Here are the costs for each seat-class from Shanghai to Beiing (about a 4.5 hr ride):

· 2nd Class: US$82

· 1st Class: US$138

· Business Class: US$260

我看完了全部回帖，我觉得很有必要上来说点啥。我在中国搭乘过烧煤冒黑烟的火车(很多年前)，就跟西部电影里的火车一样。今天中国的火车使用电力驱动，安静、干净、舒适，而且大多数/甚至可以说所有火车都可以免费上网。

中国高铁有三种座位等级：二等车厢、一等车厢和商务车厢。我把上海到北京的不同等级车厢的票价(大约4.5小时)列出来了：

·二等车厢：82美元

·一等车厢：138美元

·商务车厢：260美元

The 2nd Class seat is wider than economy seats on an airliner, and have much more leg room; so, much easier to go to the restroom if you were seated by the window. I think it’s 2+3, meaning 2-seats on one side and 3-seats on the other side of the train with a center aisle.

二等车厢的座位比经济车型的座位更宽，腿部伸展的空间也更大；所以，如果你选择靠窗的位置，去洗手间就很方便。我记得车厢内的座位应该是2+3，一侧有2个座位，另一侧有3个座位，中间隔着过道。

The 1st Class seat is 2x2, and as wide as a business class seat on an airliner with much more leg room. This way, if the person in front of you decides to lie back to take a nap, you won’t even notice any intrusion to your airspace. Food/drink carts come by every-so-often if you want to buy anything. There’s also a dining car to get things to eat or drink. Bathrooms (Toilets) are clean and larger than airliners’. This is the class that I normally take, since more than comfortable enough for me and not expensive.

The Business Class is also 2x2, but the seats have more cushions, and the seats are separated from each other; and can lean back more with leg supports. It is a more exclusive area for those who want to sleep and more privacy. I took this once, and it was like 1st class airliner comfort.

一等车厢的座位是2x2，和商务车厢一样宽，腿部空间更大。如果前座乘客想躺下小睡一会儿，你也不会觉得有人侵占了你的空间。如果你想买东西，乘务员会推着食物/饮料车在车厢内来回走动。列车上还有一个餐车车厢，可以在餐车车厢内用餐。卫生间也很干净，比飞机卫生间还大。我经常会选择这种车厢，很舒适，票价也不太贵。

商务车厢的座位也是2x2，但座位的坐垫更厚实，而且座位彼此独立，靠椅可以更往后靠，更舒服。对于那些想睡觉的人来说，商务车厢绝对是一个更私密的地方。我坐过一次，感觉和飞机头等舱一样舒适。

Commercial airline tickets from Shanghai to Beiing are:

· Economy class: US$229

· Business class: US$416–845

· First class: US$691–845

上海到北京的飞机票票价：

·经济舱：229美元

·商务舱：416-845美元

·头等舱：691-845美元

The actual door-to-door time is about the same for both travel modes, but the HSR will be much more comfortable at 1/4 to 1/3 the cost (on some days it’s only 25% less expensive by HSR). I really wish the U.S. had HSR, but will not happen until land owners become more agreeable; and that’s the major reason why the U.S. will not have HSR.

As more airports are built in China, it will benefit some of those are in a big hurry perceiving air travel is much faster than HSR. For the longer segments, air travel is faster. For example, I would pay more to go from Shenzhen to Shanghai by commercial air than taking the HSR. Time becomes a factor after more than 6 hours on a train, for me.

这两种出行方式的实际耗时差不多，但高铁会更舒适，价格只要机票的1/4到1/3(有的时候高铁只比机票便宜25%)。我真的希望美国也能打造高铁网络，但除非土地所有者愿意配合，否则这是绝对不可能发生的；这也是美国没有高铁的主要原因。

中国的机场现在越建越多，这对一些认为飞机比高铁快得多的人来说是好事。对于长距离出行，飞机确实更快。例如，如果从深圳到上海，我更愿意多花点钱乘坐飞机。对我来说，如果火车运行时间超出6个小时，就成了一个影响因素。

Eventually, China will have many more airports, but not as many as the U.S.; simply because their HSR is just too convenient and too economical to be bothered with airport ticketing, security lines, long walks to the gate, long wait to board the airplane, waiting to deplane, long walk to luggage claim, waiting for luggage, etc.

Answering the question more directly, the cost-benefit of flying is much higher than HSR. In other words, the infrastructural costs and the operating costs for airports far exceed the HSR system, not to mention the cost per mile for passengers is much higher for commercial flying.

So, I advocate for more HSR in China!

未来中国会修建更多机场，但不会超过美国；因为中国高铁太方便、太实惠了，乘客们不用去机场检票、排长队过安检、长途跋涉走到登机口、长时间等待登机、等待下飞机、再长途跋涉去取行李、等待行李等等。

更直接一点来回答这个问题，飞行的成本远高于高铁。换句话说，机场的基础设施成本和运营成本远远超过高铁，每英里的乘客成本也要高得多。

所以，我支持在中国修建更多的高铁线路！

ADDENDUM 1

One commentator said I was not being fair about a fare comparison between air and HSR, so I went to look for the least expensive airfare between Shanghai and Beiing on the day that he mentioned was low for airfares. So, here are the results for Friday, 8 March 2019:

Airfare:

• Economy seats price range: US$106–231 (1-way, throughout the day)

• Business seats price range: US$288–852 (1-way, throughout the day)

For the HSR on 8 March 2019:

• 2nd Class seats price range: US$82.46–83.21 (1-way, throughout the day)

• 1st Class seats price range: US$139.12–140.02 (1-way, throughout the day)

• Business Class seats price range: US$260.65–262.81 (1-way, throughout the day)

补充1

有人评论说，我给出的机票和高铁的票价有失偏颇，所以我搜索了他提到的机票便宜那天上海和北京之间最便宜的机票，以下是2019年3月8日星期五的搜索结果：

机票：

•经济舱的价格范围：106-231美元(全天单程)

•商务舱的价格范围：288-852美元(全天单程)

高铁：

•二等车厢的价格范围：82.46-83.21美元(全天单程)

•一等车厢的价格范围：139.12-140.02美元(全天单程)

•商务车厢的价格范围：260.65-262.81美元(全天单程)

So, the differences are much less than the 3–4X that I used for the day that I picked. Lowest airfare is about 1.3–2.8X higher than the 2nd class HSR seats on that day.

Flight time between Shanghai and Beiing is between 2:20 - 2:30

HSR travel time from Shanghai to Beiing is between 4:24 - 6:20

Security check at Hongqiao HSR station is usually 2–5 minutes, then another 2–10 min. to get your ticket. So, I usually get to the station about 45–60 min. before train departure time. There are over 15–20 places to eat/drink, so I tend to book trains around meal times if time permits.

For air travel, you have earlier check-in requirements, longer ticketing times, much longer security lines, longer walk to the gate, retrieving luggage, etc., so I think the HSR might be faster on average for these two airports (curb-to-curb). Most of the meetings are not near the airport, and the HSR stations are usually closer to the city center than airports. Another potential plus for HSR.

所以，票价差异比我之前举例的3-4倍差异要小得多。当日机票最低票价约为高铁二等座票价的1.3 - 2.8倍。

上海到北京的飞行时间是2:20 - 2:30

上海到北京的高铁时间是4:24 - 6:20

虹桥车站的安检时间通常为2-5分钟，然后再花2-10分钟取票。所以，我通常会在列车出发前45-60分钟就到达车站。车站内有超过15-20家餐厅，所以如果时间允许，我会选择餐点时间的列车。

对于搭乘飞机出行而言，必须更早办理登机手续，检票时间更久，安检队伍更长，到登机口的步行时间更长，还要花时间取行李等等，所以我认为对于这两个城市，搭乘高铁出行比飞机出行的平均速度更快。大多数会议都不会紧挨着机场，高铁站往往比机场更靠近市中心。这也是高铁的另一个潜在优势。

ADDENDUM 2

China is short on pilots for commercial aviation, and today not all flights are at 100% loading. So, airport expansion plans are not critical to the country’s economy. Older airports are being refurbished to better accommodate the newer airplanes and provide more comfort and conveniences for the passengers.

补充2

中国航空飞行员存在人员不足的问题，不是所有航班都能100%执飞。因此，机场扩建计划对中国经济并不急迫。中国正在翻新旧机场，为乘客提供更多的舒适和便利。

Carl Johnson

There are good answers that have been written but I would like to add that trains are a lot more comfortable than air travel. I have traveled a lot in my life and now that I live in China if I can take a trip by train that takes 4 or five hours I will take the train rather than fly.

Trains also are able to deliver you closer to a destination city or town than an airport. If they built an airport to service every city in China that was a million people there would be a a lot of airports to build. So building a train infrastructure makes a lot of sense in China. There are many cities that need high capacity transportation services and train trave is more convenient than air travel. China has different needs and therefore a different focus on development.

有网友给出了很好的答案，但我还想补充一点，高铁比飞机舒适多了。我经常出行，现在住在中国，如果路程在4到5个小时，有火车可以选，那我就会搭乘火车，不会选择飞机。

而且火车能把你送到比机场更接近目的地的城市或城镇。如果中国要为每个人口达到百万的城市修建机场，那要建的机场数量就太多了，所以在中国修建铁路设施是很有意义的。中国有许多城市需要运载量大的交通服务，火车出行比飞机更方便。中国和美国有着不同的需求，因此选择了不同的发展重心。

Duncan Yum

China’s ambition with HSR is not like in Japan or Europe where HSR serves as express service, but instead make it the mainstay in their overall trunk service - high speed, high volume transit between major hubs with their fastest train.

To be realistic, compare with air travel, HSR represent a more approachable solution for the masses, for they’d have to spend far less time making connections between each leg of their trip - for simple analogy, while air travel seems to be faster, you’d have to:

中国对高铁抱有厚望，不像日本或欧洲只把高铁作为特快列车，中国用高铁在主要枢纽之间进行高速、高运量的运输。

实事求是地说，与飞机出行相比，高铁对大众来说是一种更平易近人的交通方式，因为高铁出行更节约时间—打个简单的比方，虽然飞机貌似速度更快，但你必须：

1. first spend 1–2 hours on road traffic to the airport, which all those new ones located outside the city, at least an hour to drive;

2. at least an hour spent on check-in, security checkpoints and boarding gate before boarding;

3. toss in a hour delay due to air route congestion;

4. an hour spent in dis-embarkment, claiming luggage (Chunyun travelers don’t travel light, mind you)！

5. 2 hours on the road to the next land transport hub…

1. 先花1-2小时通过公路交通抵达机场，新机场一般都位于城外，车程最少一个小时；

2. 登机前至少花一个小时办理登机手续、过安检、找登机门；

3. 因为航空管制晚点一个小时；

4. 落地后取行李又要耗上一个小时(春运期间大家都不会轻装出行)！

5. 再花2个小时才能到达下一个陆路交通枢纽…

As you can see, in China’s case, air traffic isn’t the “solution for the masses” here, train was, is, and will be THAT SOLUTION, and the logical step is to have train runs faster, and make HSR affordable.

正如你所看到的，在中国，空中交通不是“大众交通工具”，在过去、现在和将来，火车都是“大众交通工具”，所以中国给火车提速、给高铁合理定价才是符合逻辑的做法。