China’s Ministry of Railways said on 13 March that the new Shanghai-Hangzhou maglev line had obtained official government approval.

The news was immediately followed by fierce debate among many Chinese internet users as to the wisdom of building the new line. Maglev lines are expensive to build and are more efficient running over long distances.

The 31km Shanghai Maglev is the only commercial maglev line in the world, but has suffered low passenger volume and high maintenance costs since it started operation in April 2006. According to local media, the company that operates the Shanghai maglev line makes a loss of Rmb500m-700m each year and has a liability of at least Rmb7bn.