Intercity commuters are a puzzle for Chinese officials

FEW CHILDREN grow up dreaming of being a commuter. But there is a logic to a life spent between a city job and a home in some quiet, affordable spot. The first modern suburbs sprang up to greet trains puffing out of Victorian London. As countries such as Japan, France and Spain invested in high-speed trains, travelling at 250kph or more, new pairs of cities found themselves an hour or so apart, allowing for previously unthinkable commutes.

Now it is China’s turn. Planners did not have commuters in mind when they began building the world’s largest high-speed rail system just over a decade ago. They started with national trunk lines and regional spurs, to bind together a vast country and boost growth. Now, with more than 35,000km of lines laid, planners are building more intercity routes, creating conditions for fast, short hops. One study in 2018, using mobile-phone data to track movements, found tens of thousands of people commuting from neighbouring cities into Shanghai, a megalopolis of 24m. Most of them came from Suzhou, a historic city half an hour away by fast train.