Now train travel is a vital means of transportation in China. As the economy develops, more people are taking trips and visiting far-away provinces. A record one-point-six billion passengers are expected to travel by train in 2010.

The financial crisis might have hurt some industries, but China's railway industry is definitely not one of them. The country's economic stimulus plan poured billions of dollars into the network last year…88 billion, to be exact. That's the largest investment China has ever injected into the industry in a single year.