经济学人下载:China,Off the rails?中国出轨了？

China 中国Off the rails? 出轨了？
High-speed trains might be forced to go a little more slowly 高铁或许会被迫放慢速度

CHINA’s high-speed rail network is probably the world’s most ambitious public-works project, a 21st-century equivalent of America’s Interstate highway system. Officials crow at each new speed milestone and each dramatic reduction in intercity-travel times. But after the disgrace and sacking of the railways minister and a series of other corruption investigations, the construction of the system itself may be shunted onto the slow track.

中国的高速铁路网可能是世界上最为雄心勃勃的公共建设工程，这一21世纪的工程可以和美国的跨州高速路网相提并论。官员们为每一个新的高铁运行速度记录和跨城旅行时间的节省而欢呼雀跃。但是当铁道部长刘志军的丑闻曝出，遭到解职，一系列的反腐败调查也一并开始后，高铁建设的速度或将放慢。

In 2008 China had only 649km of high-speed railway. It now has nearly 8,400km, four times as much as the next-largest network (Japan’s). The total will approach 19,000km by 2014, according to analysts at UBS, a Swiss bank (see map). That would be ten times as extensive as Japan’s. China is also adding copious amounts of traditional track and upgrading lines, mostly intended for freight. Estimates for the bill range from $530 billion to $750 billion in today’s money—comparable to America’s interstate system, which cost over $400 billion in 2006 dollars.

在2008年，中国还仅只有649公里的高速铁路，现在这一数字则接近8,400公里，是世界第二大高铁网络日本高铁公里数的四倍。根据瑞银（UBS）分析师的推算，2014年中国高铁总里程将接近19,000公里，届时将是日本高铁网总里程的十倍。中国还在大量增加普通铁路的建设，进行线路升级，这将促进货运的发展。按现在的价格测算，中国铁路建设的总投资估计为5000亿到7500亿美元，而美国的跨州高速公路按06年的美元价格计算，才投资了4000亿美元。

But question-marks have been raised over these plans after the sacking in February of Liu Zhijun, the minister responsible for building the high-speed network. He was accused of skimming off as much as 1 billion yuan ($152m) in bribes and of keeping as many as 18 mistresses. Zhang Shuguang, another top official in the railways ministry, was later dismissed for corruption. Separately, on March 23rd, state auditors reported that $28m had been embezzled from the 1,300km high-speed line between Beijing and Shanghai, the highest-profile of China’s many rail projects.

但是当负责高铁建设的铁道部长刘志军在二月遭解职后，高铁的未来也划上了问号。他被指控贪污超过10亿元人民币（约合1亿5200万美元），拥有18个情妇。张曙光，铁道部的另一个高官，稍后也因腐败而解职。一个事实是，国家审计机关在3月23日发布报告，称京沪高铁建设费用中约有2800万美元遭到贪污。京沪高铁全长1300公里，连接北京和上海，是中国高铁建设的重点。