How years of thin investment have stalled Germany’s rail network as China’s speeds ahead
Por Huizhao Huang,Xiaofei Xu — South China Morning Post – News feed
Advertisement Transport and logistics Economy Global Economy In Focus How years of thin investment have stalled Germany’s rail network as China’s speeds ahead
Germany sold high-speed trains to China 21 years ago, but now its network is slowing to a crawl as China’s continues to improve
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Huizhao Huang in Berlin and Xiaofei Xu in Paris Published: 10:00pm, 29 Sep 2026 Updated: 10:04pm, 29 Sep 2026
Wang Xixi still remembers her first experience with Germany’s trains 21 years ago. It left her with a question: how could a railway be so empty, clean and punctual, and still make money?
The carriages were bright, the toilets almost spotless and the fittings modern. During four years as a student in Bavaria, travelling on a regional rail pass, she barely remembers a delay.
At the time, China’s high-speed railway network was just getting started, while Germany was a major exporter of the technology. Siemens sold China 60 trains capable of 300km/h (186mph) in 2005.
Wang never expected that, years later, delays would become routine on Germany’s railways – sometimes minutes, sometimes hours . The reasons run the gamut: a train ahead blocking the track, faulty points, signal failures, speed restrictions imposed where tracks have worn out. Most point back to an ageing and overloaded network. Select Voice Select Speed 0.8x 0.9x 1.0x 1.1x 1.2x 1.5x 1.75x 00:00 00:00 1x AI-generated voice
