China is plunging full speed ahead on railway construction, as the country’s top economic planner announced this Wednesday that China will expand its high-speed railway network by 58 percent in the next five years. By 2030, 16 high-speed railway corridors are expected to connect major Chinese cities, totaling 45,000 kilometers of track. But some experts are skeptical about the true ability of high-speed trains to drive China’s economy.
中国铁路建设大提速，国家发改委于周三对外公布，未来五年内，中国的高铁网将扩展58%。截止到2030年，16条高铁走廊将实现主要城市全覆盖，完成高速铁路4.5万公里目标。关于高铁是否真能促进经济发展，许多专家持怀疑态度。
China’s high-speed railway network is the largest in the world, with 19,000 kilometers of track at the end of 2015. Fei Zhirong, an official at the National Development and Reform Commission, announced on July 20 that China will expand the network to connect all provincial capitals and cities with more than 500,000 people by 2030.
中国高铁网是世界之最，截止到去年年底，高速铁路已达到1.9万公里。7月20日，来自国家发改委的费志荣表示，到2030年之前，中国高铁将连通所有省会城市，以及人口在50万以上的大中城市。
China has ramped up its investment in high-speed rail over the last several years, hoping that railroad construction will create jobs and boost the domestic economy. Over the next five years, the government will pump 3.8 trillion yuan, or around US$ 569 billion, into constructing the expanded network.
在过去几年间，中国加大高铁投资建设，希望通过铁路建设增加就业，促进国内经济增长。在未来五年内，政府将注资3.8万亿（约5690亿美元）扩大铁路建设。
According to a 2014 analysis by the World Bank, China currently spends between US$ 17 million and US$ 21 million per kilometer of new high-speed rail line. This is at least twice as much as the country spends on ordinary rail lines. Zhao Jian, an economics professor at Beijing Jiaotong University, said that most of China’s high-speed rail lines are losing money, making it difficult for railway companies to pay back debt.
据世界银行2014年分析报告指出，中国每公里高铁建设费在1700万-2100万美元之间。费用至少是建造普通铁路的两倍。北京交通大学的经济学教授赵健表示，中国的多数高铁是在赔钱，许多铁路公司没钱支付债务。
But the Chinese campaign for high-speed rail expansion isn’t losing any steam. The government will encourage the China Railway Corporation, the country’s railway operator, to expand bond issuance to finance investment over the next five years, Fei Zhirong said. And although efforts to build high-speed rail lines in other countries, most recently a planned line between Southern California and Las Vegas, have fallen through in recent years, other efforts have been more successful. China plans to build a 770-kilometer high-speed rail line in Russia as part of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. And a Chinese firm began construction on a 140-kilometer line in Indonesia earlier this year.
但中国的铁路建设并没有因此而减弱。据费志荣表示，政府鼓励中国铁路总公司（铁路运营商）在未来五年发行债券，为建造铁路注资。近些年，中国高铁外国建屡遭失败，最近一次是连接南加州和拉斯维加斯的铁路项目，但也经历了许多次成功。中国计划为俄罗斯建造一条全长770公里的高铁，此举也是“一带一路”建设的一部分。今年年初，中国承建了印尼高铁项目，全长140公里。
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