Editor’s Note

　　From checking in with a paper ticket to facial recognition boarding and from traveling at a snail-paced 60 km per hour to high-speed trips of 350 km per hour, China’s railway has seen a quantum leap in development over the past 70 years since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. In this time China has developed from an impoverished and weak country into the world’s second largest economy, and China’s railway development has changed from a learner to a leader.

　　Seventy years ago, China only had 21,000 km of rail lines, half of which not operational. However, the Chinese people realized the importance of a railway to the development of the fledgling republic. Despite the poor conditions, it took just two years to build the new China’s first railway route - the 504-km ChengduChongqing line in southwest China. It came into service in 1952, unveiling the great vision of China’s railway development.

　　Today, China’s railway has a new image. Statistics from the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd. show that at the end of 2018, the country had a rail network of 132,000 km in operation, of which more than 30,000 km are highspeed. China’s high-speed railway network currently accounts for more than 60 percent of the world’s total.

　　China’s rapid economic development has allowed for the rapid development of its railway, and concurrently, the railway’s economic impetus has assisted China’s economic development. The fast and convenient passenger transportation, goods shipment and information exchanges brought by high-speed rail have Railways’ Quantum Leappositively impacted long-term regional social and economic development.

　　Under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s railway has also entered the international market, providing Chinese solutions by sharing its development experience with the rest of the world. China-Europe freight trains now reach 108 cities in 16 countries in Asia and Europe, making great contributions to trade and economic cooperation between China and countries along the routes. Projects undertaken by Chinese companies such as the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway in Indonesia and Hungary-Serbia Railway are under construction, while the Addis AbabaDjibouti Railway and the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway are benefiting local people. China’s cooperation with foreign countries in railway development is booming.

　　It’s not just about high speed. In some remote and impoverished rural areas of China, slow trains are still in operation, providing an affordable and easy form of transportation, for both passengers and goods. Though most of the slow trains run at a loss, local people are benefiting from these lines as they get the opportunity to sell their agricultural products and buy affordable essential commodities along the route of these lines.

　　“To meet the people’s aspiration for a happy life is our mission,” Xi Jinping said when meeting the press after being elected general secretary of the CPC Central Committee in late 2012. The rapid development of China’s railway is helping the Chinese people gradually realize this aspiration. CA

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