As Li Qingwei sat down to pen a letter of protest over the expansion of Shanghai's magnetic levitation (maglev) rail link, he had a strange sense of deja vu. He and thousands of others had fought, and won, this battle once before.

The project, which involves extending the line to Hangzhou, capital of neighboring Zhejiang province, was shelved two years ago after residents in Shanghai took to the streets to show their disapproval. But the plans appear to be back on the table thanks to central government efforts to boost high-speed rail travel across the country.

Officials at the Ministry of Railways were tight-lipped on the stalled maglev project until last month when they announced the extension had won approval from the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the nation's top economic planning body.

The news caused a stir among the millions of residents who live along the proposed route, which prompted authorities in both cities to insist there is no imminent timetable for construction as feasibility studies are still ongoing.

Yet builders at a construction site told Li some preliminary work has already been done. Several media organizations also reported that a parcel of land has been earmarked for a maglev station at the new terminal at Shanghai Hongqiao Airport.

"We wrote to the municipal government for confirmation on whether construction on part of the maglev line had already started at the expo site, but they only told a press conference there's no timetable for the project. They are not answering our question," said Li, 54, a former computer salesman.

The Shanghai-Hangzhou maglev link is one of many high-speed rail projects in the pipeline, with at least 10,000 km of track now under construction, according to Ministry of Railways figures.

In its latest rail development plan, the government is aiming for an 18,000-km network (including the Shanghai-Hangzhou maglev) by 2020.

However, although welcomed by rail experts and fueled largely by the State Council's 4-trillion-yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package, the expansion of high-speed travel has met some opposition.

In the past 12 months, there have been protests over the Guangzhou-Hong Kong and Shanghai-Hangzhou links (the latter opens in October and will run alongside the maglev), as well as complaints the newly opened Wuhan-Guangzhou service is too expensive for average customers.

Across the world, maglev is one of the more exciting yet controversial technologies being touted as the future of rail travel. With the use of sophisticated electromagnets, trains are suspended about 1 cm above a single rail to create a frictionless system.

Services between Shanghai Pudong International Airport and the city's Longyang Road station - the first commercially operated maglev link - travel at speeds of up to 431 km/h. The route, which in a car would take at least 45 minutes, takes the maglev just 8 minutes.

The extension project would take the line up to 200 km, starting at Pudong airport in the east, going through Hongqiao airport in the west, and then going on to Hangzhou. Travel between the two cities would take just 30 minutes, a third of the time it takes regular services.

Costs cause concern

Although officials in both cities hail the plan as an opportunity to strengthen economic cooperation, residents close to the proposed track say their concerns about noise and radiation pollution - the reasons behind protests in 2008 - have still not been answered.

People also questioned the logic of having two high-speed rail links between the same cities, especially as the maglev will be far more expensive yet only 10 minutes faster.

However, the escalating costs and lack of transparency in how taxpayers' money is spent is fueling some ardent opposition. The authorities are looking at an estimated bill of 22 billion yuan, while analysts say the Pudong maglev line, which has received 10 billion yuan in government funds, has yet to make a profit.

Critics cited the reaction to the Wuhan-Guangzhou high-speed link, which opened late last year to a chorus of complaints from poor migrant workers - the majority rely on China's rail network during the annual Spring Festival holidays - that tickets are "too expensive", the service is "unnecessary" and that many cheaper, slower services had been cancelled. (Officials in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province, recently said trains on the high-speed like are running at 70-percent capacity).

"I can't understand why we would allow such a large amount of public funds to be used for a money-losing machine that still does not have sufficient market demand," said Hou Xiaogang, who lives 25 meters from the proposed maglev route in Shanghai's Minhang district. "As taxpayers, we need to know where our money goes, but there seems to be no reliable information.

"Although the Ministry of Railways confirmed the (maglev) project has been approved, local authorities say it is still under feasibility studies. The official responses (to the public) have been rather murky and obscure, sparking speculation the government might be pushing ahead with the project yet keeping the public in the dark."

Sun Zhang, a Tongji University professor who is an expert on Chinese railways and a passionate proponent of maglev, backed high-speed links as a way for the government to grow the economy through investment in infrastructure.

"For a country with 1.3 billion people and an economy growing at about 8 percent every year, the need for transport and speed seems obvious. Just compare China and Germany: Germany is one-27th of the size of China but its railway network is 13.5 times longer than ours," he said. "People are questioning why China insists on introducing maglev lines while countries like Germany and Japan doesn't. If you look at China's sheer size, you'll know why. There just needs to be further agreement on the best way forward."

As China now does not rely entirely on imports and can produce parts needed for maglev lines, experts say the cost of manufacturing them is only 1.5 times that of high-speed lines.

"With the extension of the Pudong line, it could also help make better use of the current resources by taking passengers to a wider range of destinations and possibly reduce its deficit," said Sun. He admitted there was an "affordability" issue.

"The problem is China's economic development is not being matched by a rise in people's incomes," he added.

Yin Lu, a logistics analyst with Beijing-based Analysis Points Associated Consultants, agreed and said: "Trains are by far the most popular form of travel for the great majority who go back home (at Chinese New Year), so therefore they should be cheap and affordable. The government might consider subsidies for people if they want to promote high-speed travel."

Confidence in the Shanghai government's handling of the maglev situation was dented two years ago, said Hou, because both the project plan and environmental assessment report were posted for public opinion on "less popular" websites, which meant they went largely unseen by those affected.

Li, too, questioned the lack of transparency and said taking to the streets in protest again is still an option, but would be the last resort.

"It's a long and hard fight requiring wisdom and consistency," he said. "Luckily today we have many public means, like the Internet, where we can express our views. The problem is, even if we take prompt and legal means to voice our disagreements, there seems to be little progress in the official information disclosure."

Officials with authorities in Shanghai and Hangzhou were unavailable for comment.

"The government should open up more information to the public to build their confidence in its system, especially with investment projects in which residents have the right to knowledge," said Yu Hai, a sociologist at Fudan University. "They should also refrain from pursuing economic development at the cost of public interests. Speedy decisions are the last thing we want in the case of the maglev project."

Threat to air industry?

If the maglev route goes as planned, Hou Xiaogang's apartment building will be right next to the maglev line as the proposed buffer zone is only 22.5 meters from the track. In contrast, the buffer zone along the Pudong line is nearly 200 meters, he said.

A report by Caijing Magazine in 2007 quoted an insider from the government as saying the narrow buffer zone was due to the soaring cost of house demolition.

"It is wrong to jump to the conclusion that electromagnetic radiation doesn't harm the human body outside such a narrow buffer zone," said Hou, who is a mechanic. "We need years, if not decades of research, especially when we are dealing with a large project that might affect the lives of millions."

However, Sun said any suggestion maglev trains are radioactive dangers is "groundless".

"Experiments have shown the electromagnetic radiation of maglev trains is minimal compared with what is emitted by electronic appliances. Onboard, the electromagnetic radiation is only one-fifth of that from a color television," he said.

Nor are they noisier than conventional trains, as the airborne noise level from a maglev traveling 400 km/h is similar to that of a high-speed train traveling

300 km/h, he said.

In fact, maglev services could even be good for the environment, said Sun.

Although the communities who live beside them may not been keen on the speed, experts believe maglev technology is a green alternative to short-haul flights, much to the chagrin of Liu Shaoyong, China Eastern Airlines general manager, who recently predicted high-speed road and rail links could steal up to 30 percent of all airline passengers.

"They run on electric power that could be produced from renewable energy, while planes burn fossil fuels that are not sustainable," said railways expert Sun. (China Daily 04/12/2010 page1)