China’s grand railway plan will stay on track despite losing its champion

In our view speculation is unfounded that China’s high-speed railway expansion has been seriously set back by the dismissal of the minister who drove the runaway growth of the past two years. Our assessment is that the wilder aspects of the expansion under ousted Railways Minister Liu Zhijun − with its pursuit of maximum speeds and heavy spending − are being brought under control. The overall railway infrastructure plan will not be substantially affected because expansion will be in line...