COMPARING CHINA HIGH SPEED RAIL TO AMERICA'S COMMERCIAL AIRLINE WORLD DOMINANCE AND THE ADVENT OF HIGH SPEED RAIL ERA

COMPARING CHINA HIGH SPEED RAIL TO AMERICA’S COMMERCIAL AIRLINE WORLD DOMINANCE AND THE ADVENT OF HIGH SPEED RAIL ERA By Francis C W Fung,Ph.D. China's high speed rail dominance will continue to expand and no country in the world is likely to ever catch up. China has a large land mass plus high population density. These are the initial driving forces for the growth of energy efficient high speed rail over commercial airline for energy efficient land transportation. Plus Chinese high speed rail after successful implementation in China land mass has incentives to expand towards central Asia, south East Asia and Russia and Europe as evidenced by the recent contract signed with Turkey and Russia. The long historical importance of ancient Silk Road is also an invitation for China to expand its reach to Europe by way of central Asia. Plus there are exportation possibilities to other continents such as the recent contracts signed with Brazil, Argentina and potential contracts with India. It is a well-known axiom that necessity is the mother of product invention and market demand is the reason for commercial success. Because of the large domestic demand for high quality cameras, Japanese cameras come to dominate the world market. Because of the large land mass of America and high standard of living, U.S commercial airline industry leap frog ahead of Europe despite the fact that aeronautics as a science originated from Europe and America imported the science from Europe through the help of famous aerodynamicists such as Von Karman and Prandtl. Airbus finally caught up with America was through the forming of a European consortium. Because of the growth of international flights now is expanding to Asia, China's CCAC (China Commercial Airline Corporation) in time will catch up with Boeing and Airbus. However because China enjoys large land mass advantage connecting Europe through central Asia and down to India through south East Asia, the Western countries will be very hard put to ever catch up with China on high speed rail commercial success. Judging on the present trend, unlike other countries with high speed rail technology, China is not selfish in exporting high-speed rail. High speed rail diplomacy as practiced is a wise move by the Chinese government that will not only benefit China but the whole world. In all likelihood the world will surely see the advent of high speed rail era for efficient land transportation because of China's dedication. Francis C W Fung, Ph.D. Director General World Harmony Organization San Francisco, CA