Shanghai Expo: Should we slow down in the build up?

With less than 50 days until the big opening, the Global Times has called out to the Shanghai Expo crew to resist the urge for perfection and to "take it easy." This, it says, will allow the city to live up to its theme of ‘Better City, Better Life’. “After all, as 159 years of tradition indicate, the Expo is merely a big global party for people to enjoy the fun brought by modern civilization,” it declares.

It's not a message that the construction crews have heard though. Just when Shanghai locals thought their construction-mare was coming to an end, the city's plans to build a Maglev airport extension have fired into action. This speedy railway would link opposite ends of Hongqiao and Pudong International airports in a trimmed-down 20-minute crossing, down from an average 90 minutes by rail and minimum one hour by car -- and we mean bare minimum. Official construction dates have yet to be announced. 

But this is just one of many essential cogs in the future Maglev empire (insert Dr Evil maniacal laughter here), which also includes plans for a proposed inter-airport line to the nearby city of Hangzhou (Zhejiang Province) by 2014. However, local netizens, after crunching some very disturbing numbers, aren’t so convinced. Some have begun to ask, "When is enough, enough?"

An online net posting “Shanghai-Hangzhou Maglev Project Costs Tens of Billions of Yuan but Only Saves 10 Minutes" has posed another question for others: "Does Shanghai have too much money?" The post started a wave of criticism comparing speeds from a variety of current rail connections, with netizens questioning its overall need and use of funds, an estimated RMB 35 billion (excluding maintenance and operating costs).