High-speed rail

source：http://www.gedaodigest.com/post/66427/

High-speed rail is a type of rail transport that operates significantly faster than traditional rail traffic, using an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks (Wikipedia, 2015). Currently, countries who already have the high-speed rail are China, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Holland, Sweden,the United Kingdom, the United States and Russia.

China’s high-speed railway system has the most advanced technology, the largest construction scale, the strongest integration, the longest operating mileage and the highest speed in the world. In comparison, Japan also has advanced high-speed railway system. In fact, Tokaido Shinkansen (a Japanese high-speed railway) in Japan has a record: since its initial operation 50 years ago, the railway never has any incident due to train collision or derailment and all trains in this railway has not delayed more than 1 minute in average.

source：http://info.gongchang.com/c/zhuangbei-jiaotongyunshu-2011-09-02-404533.html
the map of high-speed rail net in 2020 in China

However, unlike China who has a complete railway construction team, there is a lack of adequate technical and other related personnel in Japan due to the the aging population. Therefore, in general, for same project, China's international bid for high-speed rail is 30 million dollars per kilometer, while Japan is 50 million dollars per kilometer.

At present, China are processing the foreign export of high-speed rail, aiming countries with emerging market demand for high-speed rail in the future and already started projects in Africa, Southeast Asia, South America and Eastern Europe. Japan can use "low interest yen loans" to attract some countries, but in long-term perspective, Japan's high-speed railway already has a big gap in technology and cost between China. In addition, Japan and Europe focus on passenger rail construction, while China focuses on both passenger and freight.

Reference
 Wikipedia 2015, High-speed rail, accessed 22 April 2015,<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_rail>