China Bubble

This is some news from one of the publications under People’s Daily, CCP’s media outlet. Because of the ongoing dispute over maglev train, properties in the community below can’t even be sold on the  market, even though most of the residents there have a handsome equity (based on market value) in their properties. 

http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/metro-beijing/update/society/2010-08/561153.html

Residents protest maglev planned to pass communities

By Xu Tianran

At least 200 residents of the Tiancun area gathered Sunday to sign a petition against the planned S1 maglev train, which will pass near at least seven residential communities and, locals fear, may endanger their health.

The S1 line is a demonstrative project for Beijing’s low-and-middle speed maglev train. The western section of the line will pass sparsely populated areas, but residents along the eastern section wish for the line to be rerouted to avoid their communities. According to the Ministry of Railways of China’s timetable, construction on the east section will start in November 2013.

On May 6, the China Academy of Railway Sciences (CARS) issued its first environmental assessment public notification for the S1 line, saying that electro-magnetic radiation and noise would not reach harmful levels, according to the Beijing News.

Locals said the notification provided inadequate scientific evidence. Residents along the planned eastern route, including inhabitants of Hailandongyuan, Bisenli and several other Haidian district communities, protested to the Office of Letters and Calls of Beijing Committee, CARS, the Development and Reform Commission of Beijing and other relevant departments, to no avail.

CARS second notification, released August 2, insisted that the maglev train would do no harm to people’s health.

Qi Fansan, a Hailandongyuan resident and retired senior engineer from the Beijing National Railway Research & Design Institute of Signal & Communication, told the Global Times that CARS’ notification was not convincing. "In Sweden and some European countries, the limit of public exposure to magnetic fields is 0.2 microteslas, whereas the standard adopted in the notification is 100 microteslas," Qi said.

The environmental assessment claimed that electromagnetic radiation would reach a highest level of 1.2 to 1.55 microteslas one meter from the maglev line. But Qi showed the Global Times a Japanese study that found the electromagnetic levels for a similar train to the S1 in Japan were dozens of times higher than those CARS presented. "I don’t think CARS is qualified to make an environmental assessment, as city railway traffic isn’t its area of expertise," Qi said.

The S1 line’s east section will pass near area primary schools and kindergartens, and the minimum distance from the railway to residential buildings is 15 meters. "In Shanghai’s maglev train program, the safety distance proposed by German experts is 175 meters. Though S1 is a low-and-middle speed maglev line, the magnetic field is still strong enough to keep tons of weight levitating above the railway," Qi said.