China approves second maglev line - report
(AFP)
Updated: 2006-02-24 14:27

SHANGHAI - China has given the green light to a second German high-speed magnetic levitation rail line, to link the economic hub of Shanghai with the eastern city of Hangzhou, a government source said.

"It was approved at a regular meeting of the State Council recently," the source in Shanghai, who is close to the negotiations, told AFP. The State Council is China's cabinet.

A train runs on a maglev line between Pudong International Airport and the financial center in Shanghai in this May 21, 2005 photo. It is reported the second maglev line, between Shanghai and Hangzhou, will be constructed. [newsphoto]

The source said Premier Wen Jiabao had discussed the issue with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier during his two-day trip to Beijing that ended Thursday.

In Shanghai, municipal officials have for three years mulled the construction of a second MAGLEV line that would cover the 170 kilometres (105 miles) to Hangzhou in just 26 minutes.

China currently operates the world's only commercial MAGLEV line, which connects Shanghai's international airport to near the city's financial centre in Pudong district, a run of 30 kilometres (19 miles).

The original line was built at a cost of 1.2 billion dollars, although the government source was unable to provide figures for the Shanghai-Hangzhou route.

Germany's Transrapid International, a consortium comprising German industrial giants ThyssenKrupp AG and Siemens, designs and builds the MAGLEV trains, which travel at speeds of up to 430 kilometers (270 miles) per hour.

Transrapid was not available immediately to comment on Thursday.

A German embassy spokeswoman, citing Steinmeier's comments to reporters on Thursday in Beijing, said a decision on the new line was believed to be very close and the Chinese were looking "very positively" at the issue.

But she said the embassy was not aware of any Chinese government decision yet.