China's unbelievable high-speed rail network

    At the beginning of the 21st century China had no high-speed railways. Slow, crowded and often uncomfortable trains ran across this vast country, with low average speeds making journeys such as Shanghai-Beijing a test of travel.

    Today, it's a completely different picture. With 37,900 kilometers of lines, linking all of its major big cities. China has the world's largest work of high-speed railways. Half of that total has been completed in the last five years alone, with a further 3,700 kilometers due to open in the coming months of 2021. The network is expected to double in length again, to 70,000 kilometers, by 2035.