esp for china, a developing nation. this is totally different from greek's situation. you know even in the worst time for greeks, they never think about giving up august summer vacation! chinese are among the hardest working species in the world.
high speed train is no brainer, besides west europe and japn who already did, almost all nations in this globe are going to follow china, sooner or later.
to build a green and sustained society, public transportation is the only way. in the future civilization will be like strings of pearls, or islands. pearl is city, string is bullet train. then, except some rural areas for agriculture, all the rest land will be given back to wild life (and tourism).
now talking about cost, the price and the timetable can be adjusted/floated based on demands. also tech is going to improve, building cost will be lower and lower.
if you look around world meida views on china's bullet trains, more and more positive voices are emerging. yet you still lag behind with those antis (most wksns)?