中國多座城市上演地鐵“大躍進”

Competition is fierce among Chinese cities over subway construction.

《21世紀經濟報道》消息，去年12月30日，北京同時開通多達5條地鐵線。大力發展公共交通的不僅僅是首都北京，中金公司的最新報告顯示，中國已有36個城市上報了城市地鐵建設規劃。

中國工程院院士王夢恕表示，目前國內地鐵建設相互攀比的情況確實很嚴重，都在比公里數，比竣工時間誰最短，但倉促施工也會埋下一些安全隱患。而一些中等城市，地上交通資源一般都夠用，建地鐵其實沒有必要，容易造成浪費。

目前，中國地鐵的造價一般在每公里4到5個億之間，有的甚至7個億。這就大大提升了地鐵的運營成本，為了維持地鐵運營，只能加大政府投入和提高票價，由此很多老百姓坐不起地鐵，就可能導致整個地鐵運營的失敗。有的城市每年都要為此付出十幾億的財政補貼才能維持地鐵的正常運營。

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.

(China.org.cn January 4, 2011)