A rapid rail link between Beijing and Shanghai should use high-speed wheel
track instead of a cutting-edge magnetic levitation line, a government body has
recommended.
The views of the influential National Development and Reform Commission were
formerly contained in a "statement of recommendation," that said the link should
be built "using wheel track technology."
The recommendation, while holding open the possibility of further changes,
will weigh heavily in the final approval process. It was posted on the NDRC's
Web site on Monday.
The statement also said the Beijing-Shanghai project should be built and
operated by a limited company, with financing from both domestic and
international investors.
In the lead up to a decision, Japan had been lobbying China to use its
Shinkansen bullet train technology, France its TGV system, and Germany its
magnetic levitation, or maglev, technology.
The proposed line would run for 1,320 kilometers (820 miles) with trains
traveling at up to 350 kilometers-per-hour (217-miles-per-hour), the statement
said.
Shanghai already has the world's only commercially operating maglev train, a
31-kilometer (19-mile) line to its Pudong International Airport that uses
magnets to push trains along on a cushion of air at speeds of up to 430
kilometers-per-hour (260 miles-per-hour).
A push for its use on a Beijing-Shanghai connection has stalled, although
Chinese officials have hinted that same technology could be used on a longer
line from Shanghai to the neighboring city of Hangzhou.
China says it badly needs a high-speed link between its two biggest cities to
help alleviate heavy air and rail traffic on existing routes. The new line, work
on which could begin as early as this year, is expected to cut the rail travel
time between the cities to less than five hours from 13 now.
China has said it wants to build the 200 billion yuan (US$24.86 billion;
euro20.84 billion) railway primarily with domestic technology adapted from that
in use overseas.
