Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail delayed by years: ministry
BEIJING (AFP) — A planned high-speed rail line between Beijing and Shanghai is unlikely to be completed until at least 2013, China's government has said, in the latest setback for the long-delayed project.
A notice on the website of the national railway ministry on Saturday also said the ministry will take a 78.9 percent stake in an investment vehicle formed to finance the project, whose ballooning costs have fuelled delays.
The line is expected to take five years to complete, the notice said, meaning it will not be operational for the 2010 World Expo to be hosted by Shanghai, China's commercial hub, as originally hoped.
The project was first proposed in 1994 and was originally supposed to be completed before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. As delays mounted, the government later set its sights on completion in time for the Shanghai expo.
China's railway minister had said in September that construction would begin "soon" but no specific date was given.
Trains on the 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) line will run at speeds of up to 350 kilometres per hour, halving travel time between China's two dominant cities to less than five hours, state media has reported previously.
The project, which has been on the drawing board for more than 10 years was expected to start construction last year but has been delayed by the central government as costs spiralled.
It finally won approval in September with a budget nearly twice the initial estimate of 130 billion yuan (17.3 billion dollars).
The ministry notice gave no information on how much the investment vehicle would raise.
Rising real estate and construction material prices have been blamed for the soaring budget.
