CNN travel | Past, present and future: The evolution of China’s incredible high-speed rail network

(CNN) — At the beginning of the 21st century China had no high-speed railways.

Slow and often uncomfortable trains plodded across this vast country, with low average speeds making journeys such as Shanghai-Beijing a test of travel endurance.

Today, it’s a completely different picture. The world’s most populous nation has — by some distance — the world’s largest network of high-speed railways.

No fewer than 37,900 kilometers (about 23,500 miles) of lines crisscross the country, linking all of its major mega-city clusters, and all have been completed since 2008.  —read more—