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

中国为什么要建那么多高铁轨道，为什么不像美国那样把钱用来发展航空呢？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Chinese Hedgehog

China's situation is different from that of the United States.

China's first domestically produced airplane has just flown and is in operation, and China's high-speed rail technology is no less advanced than that of any other country.

With 1.4 billion people in China and just over 300 million in the United States, trains clearly have more capacity than airplanes.

中国的情况和美国不一样。

中国第一架国产飞机刚刚投入运营，中国的高铁技术丝毫不逊于其他国家。

中国有14亿人口，美国只有3亿多人口，火车的运力显然比飞机大。

Fred Chuatiuco

The primary reason is that rails is the most efficient mode of transportation especially within their urban context that the system is located in and for the scale of people involved.

And high-speed rail is not just infrastructure but one that is a self-sustaining revenue generator that pays for itself if not profit centers for the majority of the system. And just as important, this also ties in with spinoff of property development and commercial retail businesses in the traffic going through its station network.

主要原因是，铁路是最高效的交通方式，特别是在高铁所在的城市群中，而且可以辐射的人口规模。

高铁不仅是基础设施，即便算不上利润丰厚，也是一个可以独力运营的收入来源。而且列车网络带来的乘客流量还能拉动房地产的开发和商业零售业务的发展。

And there is the manufacturing aspect. China builds its high-speed rail system on a turnkey basis that is all ini-house.- from the rails to the trains and down to everything including the nuts and bolts. But right now, China is not yet in the same position with their commercial planes. Comac C919 is just going into commerical service, the first Chinese narrow-body plane with only 40% domestically sourced components, including its most component part - the engine.

还有制造业方面的因素。中国的高铁系统是在实现了完全自主设计的基础上建造的。从铁轨到列车，再到细至螺母和螺栓在内的所有东西。但目前，中国在商用飞机方面还不能达到同样的水平。中国商飞C919才刚刚投入商业服务，这是中国第一架窄体飞机，只有40%的零部件来自国内，包括其最重要的部件—发动机。

John Pryor

Simply put unless you are talking a long journey the train is more convenient. The plane will always cover the distance quicker but you have longer checking in times & airports are normally situated out of town. The convenience of getting to & from the stations & ease of checking in means the overall time spent is roughly similar for a train journey.

So similar total journey time & the train is more comfortable, cheaper & may well offer a better range of departure times. Flying only makes sense over long distances.

简单地说，除非你需要进行长途旅行，否则搭乘火车更加方便。飞机当然会更快地到达目的地，但你需要更长的时间来办理登机，而且机场通常都位于城外。往返火车站的便利性和办理进站手续的便捷性意味着，搭乘火车花费的总时间和飞机大致持平。

在出行时间差不多的情况下，火车更舒适，票价更便宜，可能出发时间也更合适。长途旅行搭乘飞机才更有意义。

Kanthaswamy Balasubramaniam

Supply Chain & Economics

China can build and build and build their railways with zero interruption

They control every facet of HSR from steel to coaches to seats to the engine to the electrification equipment

100% in house

Thus LOWEST COST OF PROCUREMENT

China can thus build Railways at 1/4 the per Km cost of the US and still make a 35% profit

China can maxmize volume of passengers and minimize their operating losses and make up heavily in intangible benefits

这是出于供应链与经济效益的考量

中国可以不受干扰、不间断地修建铁路

他们控制着高铁方方面面，从钢材到车厢、座位、引擎到电气化设备

100%都是国产的

采购成本也能做到最低

因此，中国可以用美国每公里成本的四分之一建造铁路，但仍能获得35%的利润

中国可以最大限度地增加乘客数量，最大限度地减少运营损失，并在很大程度上弥补无形收益

Air Travel is complex

It means dependency on the West either for Engines (GE-Safran) or Aircraft themselves

This means cost ineffectiveness

航空业则十分复杂

这意味着中国要么在发动机上依赖西方，要么在飞机上依赖西方

这意味着成本效率低下

HSR allows you minimum travel time estimated to be only 153% higher than Air Travel across an estimated 500 Kms at a cost burden of only 53% of Air Travel

US extended their Aircraft Travel at the expense of their railways

据估计，对500公里的距离，高铁的最短行驶时间仅比航空旅行高153%，而成本仅为航空旅行的53%

美国以牺牲铁路为代价发展了他们的航空业

Peter Walker

No understanding of logistics?

I took a Fast train from Ningbo to Shanghai. A 2 hour trip. The train was full. ALL 16 carriages. So maybe 1600 people. That's 8 737/A320 flights. That route has 3 trains an hour. So Ningbo airport would have 24 flights an hour to ONE destination.

Shanghai Pudong train station has 16 platforms each with 3 trains an hour. That's 350 flights an hour. That ain't going to fly.

你不懂物流吗？

我从宁波乘快车去上海，只需2小时的车程。火车上坐满了人。这趟列车一共有16节车厢，运送大概1600名乘客。这是8架波音737或空客A320航班的载客量。这条路线每小时会发出三趟列车班次。因此，宁波机场每小时得有24班航班飞往一个目的地。

上海浦东火车站有16个站台，每个站台每小时有3趟车。那就是每小时要发出350个航班班次。这是不可能的。

Peter Ole Kvint

The answer is that the USA is sparsely populated and China is densely populated. So a Chinese airport will take up a lot of land where many people already live and an airport can only take a certain number of flights.

High-speed rails are very cheap to build in China because so many are made.

答案是美国人口稀少，而中国人口稠密。所以，中国的机场要占用很多居住土地，而且一个机场也只能容纳一定数量的航班。

在中国建造高铁非常便宜，因为已经有规模效应。

Khengsiong Chew

First of all, China does invest heavily in air travel. It has, for example, built the world’s largest airport (by capacity) - Beiing Daxng International Airport.

Beiing Daxng International Airport (PKX)

首先，中国确实在航空旅行方面投入了大量资金。比如中国已经建成了世界上最大的机场(按运力计算)—北京大兴国际机场。

北京大兴国际机场(PKX)

China is also one of the largest buyers of Airbus and Boeing aircrafts. In April this year (2023), for example, Airbus signed order of 160 aircrafts with China Aviation Supplies Holding Company.

中国也是空客和波音飞机的最大买家之一。例如，今年4月(2023年)，空客与中国航空用品控股公司签署了160架飞机的订单。

Furthermore, China has been develo its own passenger airplanes, most notably COMAC C919 and the upcoming C929.

COMAC C919 - China’s homegrown airliner (source: Wikipedia)

此外，中国一直在研制自己的客机，比如中国商飞C919和即将推出的C929。

中国商飞C919 -中国国产客机

However, it is worth noting that train has been an important mode of travel in China for decades. When the Chinese learned to make high speed rail (HSR), it was natural that they wanted to upgrade their rail networks to the modern ones.

But even until today, the traditional ‘slow trains’ remain essential in the less developed regions of the country.

不过值得注意的是，几十年来火车一直是中国的一种重要出行方式。当中国人掌握了制造高铁的技术，他们想把旧铁路网升级到现代铁路网是很自然的。

但直到今天，传统的“慢速列车”在中国欠发达地区仍然是必不可少的交通工具。

Unfortunately, China was overly ambitious with its HSR projects. Many of the HSR lines are, as of now, unprofitable…

但很可惜，中国在高铁项目上太过激进。到目前为止，很多高铁线路还未能实现盈利……

Jamie Wang

China doesn’t have that much energy resources, not overseas colonies to provide cheap energy.

What China has is the 2nd largest population in the world.

中国没有那么多的资源，也没有海外殖民地可以提供廉价的能源。

中国拥有的是全球第二大人口。

Therefore, the efficiency among different way of transporation is crucial to China.

China’s highspeed rail’s energy consumption per capita is 82% less than bus and 50% less than aircraft.

Plus, many Chinese prefere trains because the train stations are usually closer to the city centers, compairing to airports which are usually located in the suburban areas because of noise and transportation considerations.

因此，不同交通工具的运输效率对中国来说至关重要。

中国高铁的人均能耗比公共汽车低82%，比飞机低50%。

此外，许多中国人更喜欢坐火车，因为火车站通常距离市中心更近，而出于噪音和交通方面的考虑，机场通常位于郊区。

The difference is very obvious.

The transportation development is led by the government rather the invisible hand.

The ticket price of railway is significantly cheaper, especially the regular trains. This is very important for China, a develo country with many people having low wages to travel long distance.

两者的差别是非常明显的。

交通的发展是由“政府”主导的，而非“看不见的手”。

火车的票价要便宜很多，尤其是普通火车。这对中国来说非常重要，中国还是一个发展中国家，许多人收入不高，需要长途旅行。

Taking a regular train (160KMPH) from Chongqing to Urumqi, the railway distance is 2795KM, and the starting price is 290.5 RMB, which is around 40 USD.

With such a price, you could have a seat with minimum comfortness, and unlimited supply of boiled water for tea and instant noodle.

从重庆乘坐时速160公里的普通火车到乌鲁木齐，路途距离为2795公里，起步价格为290.5元人民币，约合40美元。

这样的价格，可以让你拥有一个舒适度最低的座位，只能提供无限供应的茶和泡方便面的开水。

With about 30 USD more,

there would be a small bed, and an aisle to walk around.

By spending another 40 USD (110 USD in total),

you would have a better 2 level bed with a door which can be sealed.

A flight is for sure much much faster, like 27 hours less, but cost around 900 RMB or 130 USD more.

多加30美元，

可以有一张小床，还有一条走道可以走动。

再多花40美元(总共110美元)，

你可以拥有一个更舒服的上下铺，带一个可以关闭的车厢门。

坐飞机的话，速度肯定要快得多，比如少花27个小时，但要多花900元人民币或130美元。

For those who work very far away from home, having 1 day more on the road is not a problem, saving more money for family means more to them.

Railway ticket prices don’t change throughout the year.

There is no high season and low season for railway passenger tickets, and China Railways would make sure that lower class people being able to get tickets.

It’s not entirely a market activity, but a social welfare.

Make sure the lower class people having decent lives is a very important task for chinese. It doesn’t care about the upper level people that much.

对于那些背井离乡工作的人来说，多花一天时间在路上并不是什么大问题，能为家人多省下点钱更为重要。

火车票价格全年不变。

铁路客票没有旺季和淡季之分，中国铁路局会确保低收入人群能够买到车票。

这已经不全是市场行为了，而是一种社会福利。

确保底层人民过上体面生活，是中国非常关注的任务。中国不太关心上层人群。

George Harrison

Every country should build many high-speed rails instead of develo air travel (like USA) because trains are far more energy efficient and far less polluting.

Air travel should be mainly for long haul, especially transoceanic flights.

Wherever possible one should travel by train especially if high speed rail is available.

Also it is very difficult to electrify planes because batteries are heavy, so they must continue to burn fossil fuel for the foreseeable future.

On the other hand electricity generation is becoming increasingly generated from non-polluting renewable sources especially wind and solar.

The world must therefore electrify wherever possible.

每个国家都应该修建高铁，而不是发展航空旅行(像美国那样)，因为火车更节能，污染更少。

航空旅行应该主要解决长途出行的问题，特别是跨洋航班。

只要有可能，人们就应该乘火车旅行，特别是在有高速铁路的情况下。

此外，要把飞机电气化也非常困难，因为电池很重，所以在可预见的未来，飞机还将继续使用化石燃料。

另一方面，电力生产越来越多地来自无污染的可再生能源，尤其是风能和太阳能。

因此，世界必须在任何有可能的地方实现电气化。

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 travel is more convenient than air travel. China has different needs and therefore a different focus on development. But as others have said they are building airports as well as train routes.

已经有用户给出了很好的答案，我想补充的是，火车比飞机舒适多了。我本人经常出行，现在我住在中国，如果有4-5小时的列车班次，我一定会选择火车而非飞机。

火车也能把你送到距离目的地城市或城镇更近的地方，机场一般都比较偏远。如果要为所有百万级人口城市修建机场，那么中国需要建设无数机场。因此，在中国建设铁路基础设施具有重大意义。中国有许多城市需要高运力的交通服务，火车会比飞机更为方便。中国有不同的需求，自然也有不同的发展重点。但正如其他人所说，中国除了修高铁，也一直在建机场。