January
12, 2008 Rare Protest
in China Over Maglev Train Route Extension By Bivash Mukherjee
Shanghai
In a rare sight in China's financial capital Shanghai, a few hundred
people opposed to plans to extend the maglev (magnetic levitation)
train route demonstrated outside the city government in the heart of
this city on a foggy afternoon.
Police acted quickly and bundled away the demonstrators in waiting
police vans but not before they had taken the authorities by
surprise.
The city government is in People's Square next to the prestigious
Grand Theatre and opposite the Shanghai Museum, close to the famed
Nanjing Road that is flocked by tourists and visitors.
Reports of radiation effects from maglev have been making the rounds
on the websites since last month but most of the sites have been
blocked by the authorities. There have been unreported smaller
protests last week in distant suburbs over the health hazards but
few reports added the protests also had to do with relocation of the
locals and property prices that may supposedly dip if the plans go
through.
The current magnetic levitation train route covers a little over 30
km and connects the city's international airport in Pudong to the
subway. Trains on this route can attain a top of 420 km/hour. It is
projected as the pride of the city - the only one in the world - and
covers the distance in seven minutes flat which otherwise is a good
45-minute ride by road.
The city is trying to extend the maglev line to the domestic airport
in Hongqiao. Shanghai is keen to get the maglev ready for the World
Expo in 2010. Built with German assistance, it was inaugurated by
the then German chancellor Gerhard Schroder in late 2003.
Shanghai also plans to connect the city with neighbouring Hangzhou
(175km), which is often projected as the `Geneva of the East'. The
current train ride takes a little over three hours. The maglev is
expected to cut that down by an hour and a half.
A report in China Daily last week claimed that any proposed
revisions to the plans would cost twice the original budget. It said
that costs could jump from 200 million yuan ($27.5 million) to 500
million yuan for each kilometre of the extended line that would
provide wider buffer zones between the residents and the maglev
tracks.
The Xinhua news agency also reported last week the controversy was
likely to continue following the release of an environmental
assessment report. Xinhua reported in May last year that the project
had been suspended, which was denied by the Shanghai government. But
the local government added that an environmental study would be
carried out.
The study suggested the maximum speed along the Shanghai section of
the route would be limited to 200 km/h, which is substantially less
than the 450 km/h planned for the remainder of the railway to
Hangzhou. It said that the maglev would not affect water and air
quality and insisted that noise pollution could be adequately
controlled.
The China Daily report quoted an unnamed source as saying:
"Experiments have shown that the electromagnetic radiation is
minimal compared with what is emitted from electronics appliances in
the home. But the noise is a problem."
It said the Shanghai government is unlikely to abandon plans for the
extended line, because 10 billion yuan has already been invested in
the project.
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