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China suspends high-speed magnetic train project
2007-05-26
Radiation fears have prompted China to shelve a 4.3-billion-dollar extension of its high-speed magnetic levitation train in Shanghai, a state press report said Saturday. The official Xinhua news agency cited unnamed officials as saying construction, due to begin this year, had been suspended amid concerns the German technology could contaminate residents. "The government is working on the issue," said an official attending this week's Communist Party congress in Shanghai. A spokesman from the Minhang district of Shanghai, said: "The project has been suspended in line with the arrangements of the municipal government." The green light was given in March 2006 and officials expected the new line -- that would link the eastern cities of Shanghai and Hangzhou, 170 kilometres (105 miles) apart -- to begin operating in 2010, when Shanghai will host the World Expo and some 70 million visitors are forecast to visit. However, the project has been dogged by controversy over Chinese demands for technology transfers in exchange for the contract to build the train, which can hit speeds of up to 430 kilometres (270 miles) per hour. According to German media reports last June, Berlin officials refused to meet China's demands for access to sensitive technology. The Xinhua report said that the local government has been under pressure from petitioners worried about radiation. "I was worried because the radiation could harm my baby," said Wang Xia, a resident of the Minhang district. The government is also concerned about exorbitant costs, with the project already five billion yuan (652 million dollars) over budget, Xinhua said. Shanghai operates the world's only commercial Maglev system on a 30-kilometre route between Shanghai's financial district and its Pudong airport, which opened in 2003.
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