China’s rail density at the end of 2010 was 0.95 km of track per 100 km2
; by
contrast, the 2009 figure was 6.14 km for Japan and 2.26 km for the United States.
The other measure is traffic density, which is calculated by the number of traffic
units (i.e., the sum of ton-kilometers and passenger-kilometers) per kilometer of
railroad. China’s traffic density is three times that of American railroads and seven
times that of European Union railways. High traffic density shows the relative
scarcity of railway infrastructure in China (Rong and Bouf 2005)