The line graph compares four well-developed countries including China, the USA, Russia, and India. In terms of their railway track length, measured in thousands of kilometres (tkm) from 1980 to 2010, with five-year intervals.
Overall, China and India exhibited an upward trajectory, while Russia and the USA slightly decreased in the period shown. The most striking feature of the graph is China which initially had the lowest figure, whereas the USA was at the peak of the graph compared to other countries.
Starting with the USA, it stood at a staggering 250 tkm at the beginning of the period in 1980, followed by Russia at 150 tkm. By the final year, both countries gradually decreased with respective figures of 230 and 140.
The remaining two figures – China and India – bucked this trend. In 1980, the former recorded the lowest figure below 30 tkm, compared to the latter which was slightly higher at approximately 40 tkm. Over the following years, China surpassed the latter, closing the period as the third largest, whereas India was trailing behind at roughly 80 tkm.