Why China's traffic jams are an investment opportunity

The annual migration from Beijing and other cities during Chinese New Year is best avoided if possible. The traffic jams and overloaded trains are a hellish prospect to most of us, but to others they also reveal one of the most promising investment opportunities in 2013.

China’s new leaders continue to make urbanisation a policy priority, but now, analysts reckon, the focus is on investment in railways and, particularly, subways. There is likely to be far more emphasis on improving quality of life, noted Anderson Chow, HSBC’s head of infrastructure research for Asia-Pacific, through projects such as mass transit systems aimed at improving traffic congestion.

China’s...