Within a few months, the reputation of China's high-speed train has experienced a freefall, from being a symbol of China's economic miracle to representing all kinds of system flaws. In fact, the construction of the railway system has come to a standstill.
News has been reported that around 10,000 kilometers of railway has either been halted or postponed past its original scheduled completion. Many construction projects are experiencing severe financial shortages.
A series of accidents have wrecked public confidence in the safety of the high-speed train, and trust in the system reached its lowest point after the deadly Wenzhou train accident in July. The downfall of several senior officials from the Ministry of Railways, including former minister Liu Zhijun, further damaged the system's image.
The middle and long-term planning of rail construction faces a significant readjustment, which is generally thought of as necessary. Railway system problems also indicate defects which exist in many other sectors: a fever for speed, lack of proper supervision, and slack quality control, which all bear the seeds for future accidents.
Rail construction overall has been decelerated. The public is showing an aversion toward large-scale infrastructure projects. To be honest, grand construction projects have often turned into pits of corruption. High-profile scandals have been exposed in almost every grand project, including the construction that went into the Beijing Olympic Games.
Though the public's trust has been rocked, the significance of large projects for economic growth should not be dismissed.
It is reasonable to question the debt burden of the railways ministry, but public projects like the high-speed railway have a longer term of return on investment. Serving public interest is an important duty, so it is not appropriate to expect profitability in the same way that corporations do.
The effect of large-scale public projects in stimulating the economy and generating jobs cannot be ignored. A high-speed railway has a significant spillover effect in fueling regional economy. The construction of hydropower stations has also met strong resistance for various concerns. But they provide necessary energy and traffic arteries to advance the economy in a country as big as China.
It is obvious the country lacks experience in managing the construction and operation of big public projects. And the flaws which have been revealed so far have ruined the public's trust of the government. However, the urgent solutions used to fix these flaws should not reverse the trend.
