The Maglev and the bullock cart

ASIA FILE

In the minds of Shanghainese, only one thought has been uppermost in recent months: speed. A 30-kilometre magnetic levitation (Maglev) railway "" the first such railway in the world to be run commercially "" has started running between Pudong International Airport and downtown Shanghai, covering the distance in just seven minutes and 20 seconds. That's 430 km an hour! And early last month, at a site outside Shanghai, China's first Formula One racing track was opened, where a Grand Prix race will be held this September.

Speed is the name of the game in today's China. At Pudong's 88-story Jin Mao Tower, currently the tallest building in China, elevators travel at a speed of 540 metres a minute.

Speed on all major railway lines in the country has risen to 160 km an hour. Shanghai to Beijing, a distance of 1,320 km, is now 12 hours by train, will be six hours when bullet trains arrive on the scene by 2008. Over 99 per cent of trains leave on time and 96 per cent arrive as scheduled.

Expressways are being built at a frenetic pace with design speeds of 120 km an hour, and they are becoming increasingly intelligent. The idea is to cover the entire country with a national expressway network for super-fast journeys between cities and states.

On Beijing's first ring highway "" which happens to be its fifth ring road "" that surrounds the city at a distance of 10 km to 15 km from downtown, the designed driving speed is 100 km an hour.

As many as eight expressways connect with it and no fewer than 259 bridges and flyovers ensure that commuting time from anywhere to anywhere in the city is never more than an hour. Cars have fewer intersections to contend with. There are 130 km of dedicated bus lanes in Beijing already. By 2008, there will be 400 km of them.

Air cargoes are clearing customs in 12 hours and ocean cargoes in 24. At the Shenzhen border crossing, China's busiest, an automatic vehicle and driver detection and identification system has been put in place to hasten the flow of traffic through its 80-plus lanes.

Speed-pride, which began in Japan, is sweeping through other Asian countries as well. Track-bound bullet trains are already running in South Korea.

In October, they will start running in Taiwan between Taipei and Kaohsiung. Highways are becoming more sophisticated. From next year, a new electronic toll collection system will be introduced on Korea's expressways, allowing up to 1,800 vehicles to drive through a tollgate hourly without having to slow down.

On Manila's Skyway, South Luzon Expressway, and South Luzon Tollway, electronic toll collection has cut commuting times by half. Malaysia has introduced a new, uniform electronic collection system to speed up tollgate traffic on all its expressways.

Just about everyone in Hong Kong carries a super-flexible smart card, called Octopus, that can be used on all transport modes "" buses, subways or ferries. You don't have to waste time fumbling for coins or swiping cards. You don't even have to take the Octopus out of your wallet or handbag.

Just pass the wallet or handbag over a scanner as you walk and you are through. You may even use the same card to pay for parking, make phone calls, buy coffee at Starbucks, shop at 7-Eleven, or access the front door at your housing complex. Life couldn't be easier, speedier.

Seoul is following suit. It's issuing a new traffic card, called Prepaid T-Money, that people can use to pay for rides on subways, buses, and possibly even airlines, earning mileage points.

They can use it in other cities, too. One can also buy just the chips to attach them on cell phones or specially made wristwatches. All one does is simply touch the scanner and the payment is made.

Kuala Lumpur's three-line light railway network, plus its suburban commuter railway, has made moving around the city and its environs wonderfully quicker and happier. The world's fastest elevators will be in Taipei, at the 101-story Taipei 101 office tower that opens in October, able to climb to the top in half a minute.

Singapore National Library uses a radio frequency identification system that has cut borrowing time substantially and reduced that for book returns to almost zero.

A company can be registered in Singapore in just two hours through the Internet. Government services are available on demand from a single eCitizen portal. Soon Singaporeans will be able to pay both government and private sector bills through a common bill payment web site.

Here in India, we are doing Howrah to New Delhi (1,461 km) by Rajdhani Express in 21 hours, Mumbai to Chennai (1,300 km) in 24, and we are happy. Lucky if we can do 50 km an hour on our roads. But who cares? Isn't that better than the bullock cart?