china bets big on subways as cities
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today
Arab Today, arab today
Last Updated : GMT 06:49:16
Arab Today, arab today

Tunnel visions

China bets big on subways as cities

Arab Today, arab today

Arab Today, arab today China bets big on subways as cities

A worker looks out of a train at the construction site of Line 14 of the Shanghai metro system
Shanghai - AFP

Deep under Shanghai, workers on a flood-lit construction rig carefully install massive concrete wall sections for a new subway tunnel, adding metre-by-metre to the world's longest metro system.

The Shanghai metro's future Line 14 is part of plans to extend the already sprawling network another 35 percent by 2020 to 830 kilometres (515 miles) -- more than the distance from New York to Chicago.

Yet Shanghai is just one player in an unprecedented subway-building boom as China's massive cities race to keep pace with rising urban populations.

In 2001, four mainland Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai had rather limited networks. By end-2016 there were around 30, including some of the world's longest and busiest networks, and about a dozen more cities have gotten the green light.

State media reports say Chinese spending on subway construction could top 2 trillion yuan ($295 billion) from 2016-2020 alone.

"(China is seeing) the fastest period in human history for the development of metro systems. It's quite remarkable," said Liu Daizong, a World Resources Institute transport expert in Beijing.

- Legendary traffic jams -

Usually reserved for first-tier cities, subways are running even in third-tier population centres far inland.

The driving factor is a massive shift of humanity to Chinese cities.

Only around 12 percent of Chinese were urban-dwellers in 1950. Today the rate is about 55 percent and targeted to rise by 2030 to 70 percent -- or around one billion people.

Officially encouraged to lift millions from rural poverty and fuel economic growth, urbanisation has also brought congestion, pollution and sprawl.

Shanghai's population has nearly doubled since 2000 to 24 million -- China's largest -- and is on course for 30 million by 2030. Its traffic jams are legendary.

To keep up, its metro system has roughly doubled in the past decade, and on April 28 handled a record 11.86 million individual trips.

Along with Tokyo and Beijing, the network is among the world's top three busiest and has grown so much that there are plans to connect it with the metro of the neighbouring city of Suzhou more than 100 km away.

- Going deep -

But challenges have emerged -- new Shanghai lines must be dug as deep as a 15-storey building to squeeze under the maze of existing tunnels, said Zhou Xisheng, an engineer with state-run Shentong Metro Group which runs the system.

"As the depth increases, so does the difficulty... and the price," Zhou said, standing in a yellow hardhat next to a giant pit during a government tour of new construction.

Metro construction is notoriously expensive, and questions hover over China's ability to pay for all the plans.

But Lillian Li, a Shanghai-based credit expert with Moody's, said ruling Communist Party support should see projects through.

"Transport is a key infrastructure sector that the government would like to support for (national) integration and coordination. That's looking pretty good," Li said.

Chen Xiaohong, a transportation engineering professor at Shanghai's Tongji University, said China had no choice but to press ahead.

"Subways must be built to solve both present and future transportation problems. We cannot wait until roads get completely clogged and only then build a subway," she said.

The building spree is part of larger visions sketched out by planners that include the development of massive "city clusters" such as one grouping Shanghai and nearby cities like Suzhou and Hangzhou that could top 50 million people.

Such urban agglomerations would connect to nearby lower-tier cities and other regions of China via fast-expanding high-speed rail systems, with economic benefits all around through enhanced flow of labour, financing, resources and administrative expertise, experts said.

A transport ministry statement on Tuesday declared China to be in a "golden era" of transport development.

The resulting bonanza of infrastructure investment, likewise, will boost the national objective of spurring domestic consumption to lessen China's reliance on volatile overseas trade, said Zhu Dajian, a sustainable-development expert at Tongji University.

"Subways solve a lot of problems, raise the quality of a city, and reduce driving time and energy consumption," he said.

"In 10 to 20 years this path will be proven correct.

Source: AFP

arabstoday
arabstoday

Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

china bets big on subways as cities china bets big on subways as cities

 



Name *

E-mail *

Comment Title*

Comment *

: Characters Left

Mandatory *

Terms of use

Publishing Terms: Not to offend the author, or to persons or sanctities or attacking religions or divine self. And stay away from sectarian and racial incitement and insults.

I agree with the Terms of Use

Security Code*

china bets big on subways as cities china bets big on subways as cities

 



GMT 06:49 2012 Saturday ,01 September

Lamitta Frangieh on her \'Facebook Romance\'

GMT 08:26 2017 Wednesday ,08 February

Qatar spending $500m a week on World Cup projects

GMT 17:00 2017 Tuesday ,27 June

Saudi Arabia rebuts fake news on Turkey, Israel

GMT 10:31 2016 Monday ,12 December

Second Sydney airport cleared for take off

GMT 05:27 2017 Sunday ,16 April

GIB Capital wins 4 EMEA Finance Awards

GMT 13:58 2016 Friday ,30 December

Australia beat Pakistan to win Test series

GMT 10:07 2017 Monday ,17 April

Mark Hamill would like to play George Lucas

GMT 12:10 2016 Tuesday ,13 December

Over 30 dead as Kenya tanker crashes, explodes

GMT 02:13 2017 Monday ,25 September

December22nd-January20th

GMT 15:39 2017 Tuesday ,03 October

Bangladesh rescues 20 Rohingya held by racket gang

GMT 02:51 2017 Friday ,10 November

Under siege, Syria doctors forced to improvise care

GMT 12:18 2015 Tuesday ,14 July

Russia sack Capello as national team coach

GMT 16:07 2017 Saturday ,26 August

ISIS Claims Attack on Shiite Mosque in Afghanistan

GMT 13:47 2017 Monday ,27 February

China blue chips post worst day in 2 months

GMT 02:56 2017 Tuesday ,25 July

President Jokowi performs Eid Prayers in Padang

GMT 16:21 2017 Tuesday ,03 October

Sisi greets Guinea on independence anniversary

GMT 04:18 2017 Saturday ,16 September

Kim and Kanye expecting third baby via surrogate
Arab Today, arab today
 
 Arab Today Facebook,arab today facebook  Arab Today Twitter,arab today twitter Arab Today Rss,arab today rss  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube  Arab Today Youtube,arab today youtube

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©

arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday arabstoday arabstoday
arabstoday
بناية النخيل - رأس النبع _ خلف السفارة الفرنسية _بيروت - لبنان
arabstoday, Arabstoday, Arabstoday