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Metro dearer than space travel
As more cities across the world opt for metro rail, making it the mainstay of urban transportation, Chinese planners have warned that their construction and maintenance turned out to be costlier than space travel, with networks in Beijing and Shanghai running in big losses.
As more cities across the world opt for metro rail, making it the mainstay of urban transportation, Chinese planners have warned that their construction and maintenance turned out to be costlier than space travel, with networks in Beijing and Shanghai running in big losses.
China has spent about $6.1 billion in the last 20 years on its manned space programme sending 10 spacecrafts into orbit, but that amount would just be barely enough to build 78 km of subway system, a study of the spiralling costs of the metro rail system by the China Daily said.
The average cost of each km of subway works out to about $78 million and the metro rail systems in Beijing and Shanghai are struggling to maintain, unable to service vast loans procured for the construction.
Concerns about subway construction and expansion are mounting in China as 28 more cities have been permitted to build underground metro rail by 2015 spanning to 2,500 km.
The construction, which could strain the resources of some cities and plunge them heavily into debt, will cost over $156 billion in total.
Moreover, the construction has resulted in a shortage of trained professionals, which could lead to safety issues. Subways are an important means of reducing traffic, but smaller cities may not be able to afford them.
