page_title: High-speed rail in China
section_title: Early planning
hierarchical_section_title: High-speed rail in China / History / Early planning
caption_attribution_description: Photo in Foshan
context_page_description: High-speed rail in China is the world's longest high speed railway network and most extensively used. The HSR network encompasses newly built rail lines with a design speed of 200–350 km/h. China's HSR accounts for two-thirds of the world's total high-speed railway networks. Almost all HSR trains, track and service are owned and operated by the China Railway Corporation under the brand China Railway High-speed.
  High-speed rail developed rapidly in China over the past 15 years. CRH was introduced in April 2007 and the Beijing-Tianjin intercity rail, which opened in August 2008, was the first passenger dedicated HSR line. HSR extends to all provincial-level administrative divisions except Macau and Tibet. The HSR network reached 36,000 km in total length in August 2020. The HSR building boom continues with the HSR network set to reach 70,000 km in 2035.
  China's early high-speed trains were imported or built under technology transfer agreements with foreign train-makers including Alstom, Siemens, Bombardier and Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
context_section_description: State planning for China's current high-speed railway network began in the early 1990s under a strong leadership of Deng Xiaoping who set up what is currently called a "high-speed rail dream" after his visit to Japan in 1978, where he was deeply impressed by the world's first high speed rail, Shinkansen. In December 1990, the Ministry of Railways (MOR) submitted to the National People's Congress a proposal to build a high-speed railway between Beijing and Shanghai.  At the time, the Beijing–Shanghai Railway was already at capacity, and the proposal was jointly studied by the Science & Technology Commission, State Planning Commission, State Economic & Trade Commission, and the MOR.  In December 1994, the State Council commissioned a feasibility study for the line.
  Policy planners debated the necessity and economic viability of high-speed rail service. Supporters argued that high-speed rail would boost future economic growth. Opponents noted that high-speed rail in other countries were expensive and mostly unprofitable. Overcrowding on existing rail lines, they said, could be solved by expanding capacity through higher speed and frequency of service. In 1995, Premier Li Peng announced that preparatory work on the Beijing Shanghai HSR would begin in the 9th Five Year Plan (1996–2000), but construction was not scheduled until the first decade of the 21st century.
caption: In the early 1990s, diesel locomotives in China could attain a maximum speed of 120 km/h (75 mph) on passenger trains. Here a DF4 diesel locomotive is shown hauling passenger coaches on the Guangzhou–Sanshui Railway at Foshan in 2008.
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