By staff reporter Chenzhong Xiaolu 

(Caijing.com.cn)Due to a concurrent construction of an express railway along a similar route, Shanghai has suspended a maglev railway project that would have connected Hangzhou and Shanghai. The section of the maglev railway connecting Shanghai’s Pudong and Hongqiao airports remains in progress.

“It is a waste of money to construct a maglev railway between Shanghai and Hangzhou since it would have almost the same speed as the express railway,” said a Shanghai authority. The Zhejiang government agrees, a government source close to Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission said.

At the Shanghai People’s Congress, Shanghai mayor Han Zheng discussed only the maglev railway between the two airports, neglecting mention of the larger project between the two cities.

The local governments have not officially cancelled the project. The Zhejiang government wrote in a plan published August 2008 that the maglev construction will begin in 2010. But a member of Zhejiang Provincial Development and Reform Commission, which is in charge of the project, told the media that there is great uncertainty about whether the project will continue.

The State Council approved the project in March 2006. It was expected to be completed at the end of 2008, used on a trial basis in 2009, and put into full use in 2010 before the World Expo, but construction has not yet begun.

In contrast, the Shanghai-Hangzhou express railway, which was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission in November 2008, began construction on February 26, 2009. The express train will shorten the travel time between Shanghai and Hangzhou to only 40 minutes.

The delay of the maglev project was largely due to objections from the Ministry of Railways, according to a Shanghai government official. “That the maglev railway is not on the same route as the regular railway caused major objections,” an official said.

Citizens who live along the maglev route also protested the project, fearing electromagnetic radiation and the project’s influence on local real estate prices. They raised group objections in 2007.

Shanghai is working to improve its maglev technology and must request approval from the central government not only to use the new technology but also to restart construction of the maglev project. It remains uncertain whether the central government will approve the project, according to a source who asked to remain anonymous.

The Pudong maglev railway, which has already been put into use, is suffering from both significant financial losses and criticism from nearby residents. The Shanghai government is planning to construct the maglev railway, which will run through high-density neighborhoods, underground, but this would increase costs even further.

Full Article in Chinese: http://www.caijing.com.cn/2009-03-06/110114072.html