B·沙瓦多夫自上海报道 经过多年论证，京沪高速铁路工程终于即将开工。建成后，将使首都北京与经济
中心上海之间的旅行时间缩短一半，仅需5小时。
为了代替已提速的既有线，中国将铺设一条1300km专门用于客运的新线，而让既有网络承担货运。
建设的筹备工作始于1993年，而如果说到中国建造高速铁路的决心则要追溯至1986年，时任铁道部部长的是后来进入中共中央政治局的丁关根。
中国推迟建设高速铁路的原因之一是技术方面的不足。
在政府决定在上海修建磁浮试验线之前，一场关于采用传统的轮轨技术还是磁浮技术的争论也推迟了京沪高铁的建设。
最近在上海，现有磁浮运营线的延伸项目引起了沿线居民的反对，因为当地居民担心车辆经过所产生的噪声和潜在的风险会影响到他们的健康。
政府也考虑到了京沪高铁建设的巨大成本,毕竟大约1600亿元的投资对于当时的政府而言是极其沉重的负担；而现在，得益于经济的不断发展和世界最大的外汇储备，铁道部已能承担接近80%的投资。
同济大学交通运输学院的孙章教授因此说：“随着经济实力的不断增强，技术水平的不断提升，中国已进入铁路建设速度最快的发展阶段。”
尽管中国声称京沪高铁及其列车将实现国产化，但仍将充分吸收外国技术。就像独立建造一架支线飞机，中国负责项目的总体设计，并按照需要购买外国技术。
中国对外国技术的吸收应用，如“上海-南京”“上海-杭州”之间所用的高速动车组类似于日本著名的"子弹头列车"。一名日本政府官员说：“我认为他们将在京沪高速铁路上利用日本的一些技术，但究竟占多少比例目前还难以估计。”
出于政治原因，中国不希望在技术方面依赖日本，或任何其他国家。
孙教授说：“京沪高铁技术装备不会全部依赖进口，也不会全部是国产产品。我们将从各国引进先进技术，吸收它，消化它，从而实现再创新。”
中国希望新列车的运行速度可提高到350公里/小时，比中国其他高速线的列车还要快50公里/小时。中国媒体说，当2013年京沪高铁建成时，将使目前1亿6千万的年客运量翻一番。
为了使该线能在5月份之前动工，政府将会动迁沿线的一部分居民，至于具体有多少人需要搬迁，目前还没有透露。
北京已拨款约230亿元用于征地和安置沿线居民。一个令人担心问题是不断上升的土地价格，因为极其昂贵的土地成本将使当前的这个项目难以为继。
6家公司正与中国铁路建设集团合作建设此项工程，后者曾建造了青藏铁路。
（屠天明译）
来源：香港《南华早报》2008-1-18
FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 2008
《SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
》After years of planning, work on high-speed railway to begin at last
——
Bill Savadove
in Shanghai
Construction of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, which starts today after years of discussion, will eventually halve the travel time between China’ s capital and its commercial hub to just five hours.
Instead of speeding up the train on the existing line, workers will lay 1,300km of new track dedicated to passenger traffic, relegating cargo transport to the old network.
While preparatory work was under way as early as 1993, China’s ambitions for high-speed rail transport date back to 1986 under then Minister of Railways Ding Guangen(丁關根)，who later ascended to the
Communist Party’s Politburo.
China delayed building the railway for several reasons, including a lack of technology.
A debate over whether to use conventional wheels or magnetic levitation technology also pushed the project back, until the government decided to test the maglev in Shanghai.
A extension of the original maglev line is now generating mass protests in Shanghai because residents are worried about the noise and potential health risks from the train passing near their homes.
The government also considered the cost of the Beijing-Shanghai railway, now estimated at 160 billion yuan, too heavy to bear in the past. Now, with a booming economy and the world’s largest foreign exchange reserves, the Ministry of Railways will shoulder nearly 80 per cent of the cost.
“Our economic strength has increased. Our technology level has risen. This is the fastest period of development for China’s rail industry,” said Sun Zhang（孫章），professor at Tongji University’s School of Communications and Transportation.
Despite claims the Beijing-Shanghai line and the train itself will be domestically produced, foreign technology will be incorporated. Much like a separate effort to build a regional jet, China will design the project and buy foreign technology as needed.
Similarities in the high-speed trains between Shanghai and Nanjing（南京）and Hangzhou（杭州）and Japan’s famed “bullet train” illustrated China’s use of foreign technology, a Japanese government official said. “I think they will utilise some Japanese technology [for the Beijing-Shanghai line], but I don’t know what percentage,” he said.
For political reasons, China does not want to appear dependent on Japan, or any country, for technology.
“It won’t be all imported or all domestically produced. We want to introduce technology from elsewhere, absorb it, assimilate it and then bring forth new ideas,” Professor Sun said
China hopes the new train will run at speeds of up to 350km/h, about 50km/h faster than other high-speed trains on the mainland. When the line is finished in 2013, it will double the present transport capacity of 160 million passengers a year, state media says.
The government wants the relocation of all families because of the line to be finished by May, but it has not revealed how many people will be evicted.
Beijing has allocated about 23 billion yuan for land and resettlement along the line and one of the reasons for proceeding with the project now is the worry that rising land costs would eventually make it prohibitively expensive.
Six companies are doing the engineering work with China Railway Construction Corp, which built the line between Qinghai（青海）and Tibet（西藏自治區）.
A mainland newspaper, the China Economic Times, last year raised worries over the safety of another high-speed railway line between Guangzhou and Wuhan (武漢), in Hubei province(湖北)，with a report on sub-standard raw materials used in the concrete.
The newspaper said companies were supplying “fake” coal ash, which could eventually cause cracks in the concrete.
The government sacked the reporter who wrote the story and denied any quality problems.