...thanks to data from the International Union of Railways (IUR) we have figures...

Suggest you correct this. It's UIC, the organisation is known by its French acronym (check the link, there's no "IUR" logo) since it was founded in 1922.

@bachemobile Thank you for pointing this out. The error has now been amended,

In itself interesting, but geography surely plays an important part: size of country, and densities of population. It makes sense for Spain and China to invest in high speed rail, but much less for the UK to. (These systems are predicated on business demand, which is doubtless valid for Beijing/Shanghai or Sevilla/Madrid, but much less so for Birmingham/London.) I wonder how that aspect could be incorporated.

Also: what low speed/commuter rail networks are those countries trying to maintain. We can be impressed with the high-speed rail in France and Spain, but their standard networks are poor, both in quality of service and quantity of provision. Comparative data there might be useful.

passengers from Paris will have the tantalising prospect of reaching Manchester on direct trains in 3½ hours.

I'm sure Parisiens are just giddy at the thought

These figures are embarassing. The British invented the things, and we're at least 20 years behind comparable countries.

Oi! I like Manchester... in fact, next time my French friend's over here, I'll take her there for a day out.

We can be impressed with the high-speed rail in France and Spain, but their standard networks are poor, both in quality of service and quantity of provision.

Come off it, Spanish rail services are superb, especially considering they have two (and in some places four) gauges to cope with. And I always seem to be able to get where I want to on integrated train and bus services in France.

What a way to measure whose cock is bigger. It;s a pathetically limited statistic meaning practically zilch. A simple enoough graphic though so thank you for that.

What a way to measure whose cock is bigger.

Except it doesn't measure anything of the sort. Divide high-speed miles into the populations of the countries and you get a fairly good measure of which have the most coherent societies.

HS2 is an opportunity to do things that make sense, as long as politics keeps out of engineering. Such a shame that the Brunel 2.14m gauge was lost to Stephenson's 1.43m (feel the crush as you rock from side to side), perhaps to late as most of Europe is now 1.43m (I think) but that doesnt rule out wider rolling stock.
If we are to have new rail transport links design it and make it fit for the future,say the next 100 years and not for a political boast.
How many Titanics could be built for the money.

Sadly, the gauge battle was lost a century ago in the UK. Even Spain's new lines are all 4ft 81/2in despite a whole system (plus Portugal) previously using 5ft 6in, allowing more spacious and comfortable trains.

It is very important that rail gauges are standardised - otherwise the high-speed trains can't run on existing lines to serve stations not on the high-speed route.

However, HS2 will be built to the European loading gauge, allowing direct services from mainland Europe and practical double-deckers.

Now we face fourteen years of people saying "HAITCH ess 2"; I can't bear it. Train these people to speak properly, if they're supposed to be professionals. It's pronounced AITCH for goodness sake.

Ho0w do you work that out then. China has many miles of high speed track. Its a coherent society, for sure, but because it has x000 miles it makes it more coherent then pathetic Belgium with it's one mile of track, well you're living in cloud cuckoo land.

It's bollocks even when population numberts are accounted for. Just another bullshit statistic of no worth.

We can be impressed with the high-speed rail in France and Spain, but their standard networks are poor, both in quality of service and quantity of provision.

I beg to differ. Spain has a very reliable and affordable standard network. There are 16 trains a day from Cádiz to Sevilla, travels at speeds up to 160 Km/hour, is air-conditioned, has multilingual on train announcements and covers the 150 km in 1hr 40mins with about 8 stops. It connects with buses at the station and is invariably on time. Price €13.25