Follow us on TWITTER: http://twitter.com/cnforbiddennews
Like us on FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/chinaforbiddennews
Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail started operation
just before July 1, getting high praises from Chinese media,
but many questions were raised by ordinary people.
In Japan, a country with advanced technology in high-speed rail,
the media are also watching the real development
in China's high-speed railway.
On June 30, the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail opened
officially. Japan's Diamond Online published a report:
"The Truth of opening the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Rail
on the 90th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)."
The report said that the high-speed rail was originally scheduled
to run in the spring of 2012.
The sudden rush to begin its operation on the eve of July 1
was this year's 90th anniversary of CCP.
The report said that to meet the CCP's July 1st campaign,
the CCP media has extolled the high-speed rail lavishly.
However, civilians do not echo it but rather on the contrary,
queries and questions never seem to end.
People worry that the technology-purchase agreement
clearly specifies the maximum speed limit to be 300 km/h,
Is it safe to run at a speed of 380 km/h?
Also, the project has not considered the investment returns.
Will this become another Three Gorges Project?
Former deputy chief engineer of Ministry of Rail, Zhou Yimin,
said in an interview, that at the time of former Rail Minister,
Liu Zhijun, the high-speed rail had serious safety issues.
Firstly, the speed of 350 km/h was made possible
by lowering the safety requirements.
Secondly, there have been several unreported accidents.
Life was taken in them, therefore they were not trivial.
Thirdly, in some regions there has been a subsidence
of high-speed rail lines, the largest being over 40cm.
However, in order to compete for the world's highest speed,
high-speed rail projects in China are carried out without
solid tech support, so a series of accidents have occurred.
On March 27, 2009, a passenger train, CRH2, running on
Jinan-Qingdao line suddenly lost power and stopped.
Later it was found that the roof pantograph had been lost.
At the time of the accident, the train was running close
to the maximum speed of 250 km/h for the Jiaoji line.
Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed rail with a speed of 350 km/h
began operation on Dec. 26, 2009. Within 40 days,
five serious accidents occured. They were widely reported.
Commentator Sheng Chao wrote that as consumers,
we are more concerned about the safety of our trains,
rather than to sit in the world's fastest trains.
Since then, the Chinese Ministry of Railways has reduced
the speed limit to 300 km/h, but still said the reduction
is due to cost consideration, rather than safety issues.
The CCP poured money into Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail.
The Ministry of Railways announced on the opening day,
the total investment was RMB220.9 billion. which
was 2.3 times of the original budget in 1994,
and more than Three Gorges Dam's cost of RMB180 billion.
It thus has become China's most expensive construction project.
Diamond Online quoted China Newsweek correspondent
Zhou Cheng-hua, "Ministry of Railways is the biggest beneficiary
of the RMB 4 trillion economic stimulus package.
Maybe RMB1 trillion was invested in the high-speed rail."
But it is unknown when this investment's returns will begin.
Diamond Online said, the highest fare for Beijing-Shanghai
high-speed rail is RMB1750, a month worth of a labor's wages.
Even the lower price of RMB410 is not cheap for most people.
Taking Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed rail to visit home,
will cost two months' worth of wages.
Diamond Online also cited Beijing Jiaotong University
professor of economics, Zhao Jian, that in 2006,
only 1% of Chinese railway passengers took soft berths.
Now high-speed rail fare is equivalent to that of a soft berth.
With such a high price, the Ministry of Railways wants
"to divert the existing passengers to high-speed rail line,"
which is rather unrealistic.
NTD reporters Shang Yan and Wu Huizhen
《神韵》2011世界巡演新亮点
http://www.ShenYunPerformingArts.org/
Loading...
0:47
Unaffordable Beijing-Shanghai Bullet Train's VIP Suites Replacedby NTDTV23,762 views
All Comments