01.19.08
Beijing to Shanghai in Five Hours
A subject of debate for over 20 years, the Chinese government finally kicked off construction on a multi-billion dollar, multi-year project to build a high speed railway between Beijing and Shanghai. Expect to cost a whopping $21 billion, the project is scheduled for completion by 2013. Traveling at a speed of 350 km/h, the approximately 1300 km journey will be cut from the current 10 hours to about five hours.
I’m not opposed to the project, but I am curious what argument was most persuasive to the decision-makers to justify the cost. Green considerations, like reducing carbon emissions with fewer flights? Increase passenger capacity on a crowded route? It strikes me as a large amount that could perhaps be directed elsewhere.
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SHTig said,
April 15, 2008 at 18:26
Seems like a great idea. It’s not directly related, but China has $1.4 trillion in reserves. $21 is a drop in the bucket to make a major infrastructure upgrade.