Extensive Reading Lesson 110

中国多座城市上演地铁“大跃进”
China's rampant subway construction

中国多座城市上演地铁“大跃进”

 

Competition is fierce among Chinese cities over subway construction.

《21世纪经济报道》消息，去年12月30日，北京同时开通多达5条地铁线。大力发展公共交通的不仅仅是首都北京，中金公司的最新报告显示，中国已有36个城市上报了城市地铁建设规划。

中国工程院院士王梦恕表示，目前国内地铁建设相互攀比的情况确实很严重，都在比公里数，比竣工时间谁最短，但仓促施工也会埋下一些安全隐患。而一些中等城市，地上交通资源一般都够用，建地铁其实没有必要，容易造成浪费。

目前，中国地铁的造价一般在每公里4到5个亿之间，有的甚至7个亿。这就大大提升了地 铁的运营成本，为了维持地铁运营，只能加大政府投入和提高票价，由此很多老百姓坐不起地铁，就可能导致整个地铁运营的失败。有的城市每年都要为此付出十几 亿的财政补贴才能维持地铁的正常运营。

China's rampant subway construction

Beijing opened as many as five subway lines on Dec. 30. And it's not only the capital city expanding its public transportation. The latest report by China International Capital Corporation shows that up to 36 cities in China have submitted their plans for subway construction, the 21st Century Business Herald reported.

Competition is fierce among Chinese cities over subway construction, according to Wang Mengshu, a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. They want the miles of the subway line to be the longest and the construction time to be the shortest, but hastening construction could also bring hidden safety dangers, Wang said. In some medium-sized cities, the roads are enough for the traffic, and subway lines are not even necessary. It would be a waste to build subway lines.

Currently, constructing a kilometer of subway line in China costs 400 to 500 million yuan on average, and some could even reach 700 million yuan. The high cost of maintaining the subway requires huge governmental investment and high ticket fares that the public can hardly afford, and those factors could doom subway operation. In some cities, the local governments have to pay as much or more than 1,000 million yuan in subsidies every year to keep the subway running.