China’s High Speed Train: $86 Beijing to Shanghai

China's $300 billion 16,000 KM  (~10,000 mile) high-speed rail megaproject while slightly behind schedule is about 50% complete. The system will criss-cross China north and south, east and west from as far north as Harbin (Maine in USA) to Hong Kong (Miami, FL) in the South and Chengdu (Colorado) in the west. 

On July 1, the Beijing to Shanghai route will begin service shuttling passengers at speeds of 300kmh (210mph) along the 1,100 km (650 mile) route for a cost of $86. This is about half of the cost of air travel between these cities, and about half the time factoring in airport and air time. 

By reducing cost and travel time in between Chinese cities, this will continue to spur trade, and ease the flow of people from east to west, and west to east. As China continues to develop in to a consumer society, and expand growth from the eastern shores to the middle and west, additional opportunities for China business development will follow. 

China plans to urbanize another 400 million people in the next 10-15 years and many will likely move into second and third tier cities like Zhengzhou, Chengdu and Hangzhou. US companies who recognize the opportunities created by China's massive infrastructure investments and urban migration can create opportunities to be successful first movers in their market segments in China. While most Americans have heard of Shanghai and Beijing, between these two cities there are less than 40million of the 1.37 billion people, and the China land mass is equal to USA.