China Has Fast Food Delivery Onboard Its High-Speed Trains

China is home to the longest and fastest high-speed railway trains in the world, and provide ground transportation for billions of people annually. It turns out there is a lucrative business in food service for long-distance train patrons, and many don't want to pay for the mediocre food or lack of choice that comes out of the kitchen car. The closest we have in the U.S. is getting Starbucks delivered by UberEats and the driver leaves it next to the trash can in the parking lot of your office building, and slow trains that kill pedestrians. Reports from 2020 indicate that a single station, the Nanchang East train station, saw around 1,700 on-demand meal orders per day for high-speed rail, and growth has been the name of the game since then. Each of these meals requires a precise timetable to get them onboard and doled out to the correct passenger. Passengers must order their meal one hour prior to their train arriving at the restaurant's station. Trains often spend no more than a few minutes at each station, and if the meal is late to a departing train by even a few seconds, it's a lost sale, a disappointed customer, and a bad review.