CHIRONY

I never expected to receive a full refund. After missing my 4:58pm train from Wuxi to Shanghai, I casually meandered to the station’s ticket office around 6pm to buy a new ticket and hopefully get home before midnight. After waiting in line for no more than three minutes, a polite and professional, middle-aged women looked carefully at my tian piao (unused ticket), skillfully examined the schedule, and quickly responded, “I’m sorry, your ticket class is not available for the next train. However, we do have a second class ticket available — would that work?”

“Absolutely,” I replied. I usually take second class anyway. “How much is the change fee?”

“We will refund the fare difference.” She passed a second-class ticket, leaving at 6:18pm, along with 8RMB. What service! Not only did they place me without penalty on the next available train, but they paid me back for having to accept a downgrade.

“You better hurry,” she said. “You might miss the train.”

For all of the archaic, bureaucratic systems in China plaguing industries from banking to telecommunications, the heavily-nationalized rail network seems to really be designed with the consumer in mind. At a distance of 120km, Wuxi and Shanghai are only a bit farther apart than Philadelphia and New York City (150km). A one-way, second-class ticket on a China High-speed Rail (CRH) train between Wuxi and Shanghai costs RMB39 (US$5.50). Not only are the cars clean and well kept, but the passage takes less than an hour as the train exceeds speeds of 200 kilometers per hour. Compare this to Amtrak’s Acela Express, the fastest running passenger train in the United States, which operates regularly between Philadelphia and New York City. A one-way ticket costs between US$45 and US$87, depending on when its booked, and the passage takes about an hour and a half.

Not only is China home to the fastest train in the world, which runs south from Wuhan at top speeds exceeding 380 kilometers per hour, but the country has committed to laying 13,000km of high-speed rail by 2012.  I have every reason to believe that China’s rail network will soon compete directly with the country’s airline industry — in speed, convenience, and price. Lets not forget, this is a country wtih a per capita income that is one-eighth of that in the US.

I am probably comparing apples to oranges. With 1.4 billion people, China needs reliable public transportation like a train needs tracks — its a developmental imperative. (Just imagine if they all had two cars!) But, for such projects, the US has a decisive resource advantage with one notable hindrance: strong rule of law that prohibits powerful people from tearing through thousands of miles of private property.

Regardless, China’s success in developing a world-leading rail system — that is remarkably consumer-focused — while managing extreme population distress is beyond impressive. In this case, I’ll take the product Made in China.