by Calculated Risk on 2/12/2010 02:37:00 PM

The rapid expansion of high speed rail in China is pretty astounding ...

From the NY Times: China’s Project to Build Fast Trains Is Spurring Growth

The Chinese bullet train, which has the world’s fastest average speed, connects Guangzhou, the southern coastal manufacturing center, to Wuhan, deep in the interior. In a little more than three hours, it travels 664 miles ... Even more impressive, the Guangzhou to Wuhan train is just one of 42 high-speed lines recently opened or set to open by 2012 in China.

This is part of the stimulus package:

Faced with mass layoffs at export factories [due to the global financial crisis], China ordered that the new rail system be completed by 2012 instead of 2020, throwing more than $100 billion in stimulus at the projects.

Administrators mobilized armies of laborers — 110,000 just for the 820-mile route from Beijing to Shanghai, which will cut travel time there to 5 hours from 12 when it opens next year.

It sounds like they are building the pyramids!