1 4 billion Chinese people "can't afford" high speed trains

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5zeAsPGBnU

China is the country with the most complete high-speed rail lines in the world. But what is more surprising is that China's high-speed rail is not profitable, and it has even been in a state of loss! According to the latest data, as of the first half of 2022, the total liabilities of China National Railway Group totaled 6 trillion yuan, and in the first half of 2022 alone, it has lost 80.4 billion yuan, with an average loss of 400 million yuan per day. 400 million, what does that mean? Well, even in Shanghai, the most economically developed city in China, the total GDP in 2020 is only 3.87 trillion yuan. 

 That is to say, the money earned by Shanghai's hard work for a year is not enough to make up for the loss of China's high-speed rail for one day. You may be very puzzled. China has a population of 1.4 billion, and there are so many trips every year. After a railway is built, wouldn't it just sit back and wait to collect money, why would it lose so much money? Why is there such a serious loss? Why isn't China's high-speed rail profitable? If there is no money, why is China still building its powerful high-speed rail network?