What a difference a year makes for China’s high-speed rail ambitions, and for the Chinese economy.
After being abandoned and left to lie dormant, the scrubby farm fields around Bazhou in northern China have sprouted rail bridges, raised track beds and neat rows of workers’ dormitories. The fields are well on their way to becoming a link in the country’s rapidly expanding high-speed rail network.
It is a sharp turnround from late 2011 when China slammed the brakes on its rail programme, suspending almost all new investment after a bullet train crash killed 40 people and raised questions about the quality of the track that had already been laid.