Written by Jin Song,Dai Qian

Photographed by Wu Kanjun

As more metro lines are being built in the downtown area of Shanghai, the projects of Shanghai-Hangzhou Maglev line and Shanghai-Beijing High-speed railway have also been nodded the government. The two railways which are expected to be put into operation in the year of 2010 are believed to greatly improve the traffic around Shanghai. Once completed, the two projects, just like two wings, are surely to create a better traffic for a better city during the 2010 World Expo.

An hour's shuttle for the 200 kilos

The Cooperation & Communication Office of the Shanghai Municipal Government held at a press conference this March releasing that the construction work of the Shanghai- Hangzhou maglev line is to be completed right before the Expo 2010 Shanghai China, linking China's largest metropolis and the scenic city Hangzhou. The budget for the 175 kilometer-long maglev rail reaches RMB 35 billionYuan (around US$4.3 billion). There will be another two stations along the elevated rail, namely Jiaxing Station and the East Hangzhou Station.

Trains on the maglev railway are to reach the speed of 450 kilometers per hour, but will be limited to a velocity under 200 kilometers per hour when traveling in the urban areas. The 200 kilometers geological length between Shanghai and Hangzhou shall be merely a shuttle of an hour after the launch of maglev train.

5 hours through 21 cities

In the meantime, the construction plan of a high speed rail link between Shanghai and the capital city Beijing has also got the go-ahead from China阵State Council. Equipped with the latest high-speed rail track technology, the new line to be built will boast a maximum hourly speed of 350 kilometers and 300 kilometers per hour as its normal pace.

It is said the Shanghai-Beijing High-speed Rail will begin construction in this year and be put into operation in 2010. The new line will run 1,318 kilometers alongside the current Shanghai-Beijing route and stop in 21 city including Beijing, Tianjing, Jinan, Nanjing, Shanghai, etc. And it is the Chinese scientists and engineers who own the technology for the advanced high-speed line.

The significance of the Expo 2010 Shanghai China and its effect on the Yangtz-River Delta

The building of the two lines above is motivated by the Expo 2010 Shanghai China to a large extent. Experts say that 70 million people are expected to visit the city for the Expo 2010 Shanghai China, the number of which tops the capacity of hotels in Shanghai. And there is no way to build a lot more hotels in the city within a short period. The completion of the two lines, however, would solve the problem properly since they could link Shanghai to the cities in the Yangtze River Delta much more tightly so as to alleviate the accommodation pressure during the Expo.

For instance, the Shanghai-Hangzhou Maglev line will be able to cut the traveling time within the southern part of the delta into one hour. It shall cost merely 60 or 90 minutes to travel among Shanghai, Jiaxing and Hangzhou.

Meanwhile, thanks to the Shanghai-Beijing high-speed railway, Shanghai will also receive support from cities to its north like Suzhou, Changzhou, Wuxi and Nanjing in Jiangsu province. In the long run, all of the cities in the Yangtze River Delta will develop into an integrated city group with Shanghai as its core. The construction of the two new routes has simply added wings to the economy take-off of the Yangtze River Delta region, the area of which is going to function as the engine of China's economy.