High-Speed Railways (“HSR”) in China: A Review of Project Costs

China leads the world in length of HSR, about 25,000 route-km.  Railways with a maximum speed of 250km/h or more are considered as HSR.

A World Bank report (Read more here) suggests the unit cost of a 350km/h project is between RMB 94 – 183 million per km and for a 250km/h passenger dedicated line is RMB 70 – 169 million per km.  And the weighted average unit cost for a line is RMB 129 million per km for 350km/h and RMB 87 million per km for a 250km/h project.

The railway projects which were supported by the World Bank in China are summarised below:

In terms of various cost elements, the World Bank projects showed the following:

Table 2: Percentage of Total Project Costs

Element	350km/h (%)	250km/h (%)
Land Acquisition	4	4 – 8
Civil Works	48	50 – 54
Track	9	9 – 11
Signalling & Communications	4	3
Electrification	5	4 – 5
Rolling Stock	15	3 – 4
Buildings/ Stations	2	2 – 4
Others	13	25 – 11
Total	100	100

Several factors influence cost of a HSR project.  The major factors include line design speed, type of tracks, topography, weather conditions, land acquisition costs, viaducts, bridges and stations.

According to the World Bank, HSR construction costs in China tend to be lower than in other countries.  Why?  Manpower, capacity and availability of supplies, low cost of land acquisition, localization of design and manufacture of goods and components besides geology.

It is remarkable to accomplish 25,000km of HSR network in a period of about 10 years with costs lower than other countries.

So what should Malaysia’s HSR project cost be?  Not RM 72 billion (excluding interest costs), but more like RM 20 – 40 billion for a 250km/h line to Singapore.