The inauguration of the world's first-ever commercial magnetic levitation (maglev) system is "a major event in the history of Shanghai's urban development, as well as of China's railway transportation," Premier Zhu Rongji said Tuesday.
"It is a miracle for Shanghai to accomplish such a state-of-the-art, hi-tech project in such a short span of time," Premier Zhu said Tuesday morning at the ceremony in Shanghai marking the maiden journey of the futuristic train at the Shanghai International Media Center.
Premier Zhu and German chancellor rode the "bullet" train between downtown Shanghai and the new Pudong International Airport 30 kilometers away before the ceremony began.
"The new maglev line is a beneficial exploration in the development of rail transport. It will not only help accelerate Shanghai's drive of turning itself into a modern metropolis and but serve as an impetus to the growth of the related technologies in China," Zhu said.
The showcase maglev line, in which German technologies were imported and utilized, has been the latest outcome of Sino-German cooperation in the hi-tech field, the Chinese premier noted, and it is expected to further boost bilateral economic and technological ties to a still higher level.
Premier Zhu expressed the hope that both Chinese and German cooperative partners would "keep improving the system and further implore ways of localizing the production of maglev equipment so as to make it still more economical and competitive."
It has taken German and Chinese scientists and engineers two years and a half to complete the showcase maglev line at a cost of approximately 10 billion yuan (about US$1.2 billion).
(Xinhua News Agency December 31, 2002)
