China builds first 330 mile high speed rail segment for Turkey, As Turkey and other countries follow China's approach to infrastructure

On Friday, Turkey inaugurated its long-awaited high-speed rail link between Istanbul and Ankara, cutting the 533km (330 mile) journey between the two cities from a typical seven hours to three and a half.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was on board for the maiden voyage and hailed the 250km/h link, which cost $4.1bn, as vindication of his infrastructure policies as he campaigns for re-election ahead of polls next month, on 10 August.

Turkish State Railways (TCDD) has said that $45bn would be allocated for rail in the 14 years to 2023. It hopes to build 10,000km of new high-speed line and 4,000km of new conventional line by then. In January TCDD announced that it would invest almost half of its 2014 budget – $860m – in high-speed rail projects.

California has plans for high speed rail that would cost at least $64 billion for 800+ miles between San Francisco and LA. California and Federal ARRA funds are available to complete a 130-mile (209 km) initial segment from Fresno to Bakersfield in the Central Valley by 2017. The LA to San Francisco build is not expected to complete before 2033 and it is not likely to be completed.

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