王希希仍然记得21年前她第一次乘坐德国火车的经历。这让她产生了一个疑问：一条铁路怎么能如此空旷、干净、准时，却还能盈利？
Wang Xixi still remembers her first experience with Germany’s trains 21 years ago. It left her with a question: how could a railway be so empty, clean and punctual, and still make money?
车厢明亮，厕所几乎一尘不染，设施现代。在巴伐利亚求学的四年里，她使用区域铁路通票出行，几乎不记得有过延误。当时，中国的高铁网络才刚刚起步，而德国是……的主要出口国。
The carriages were bright, the toilets almost spotless and the fittings modern. During four years as a student in Bavaria, travelling on a regional rail pass, she barely remembers a delay. At the time, China’s high-speed railway network was just getting started, while Germany was a major exporter of the...