The maglev is considered a symbol of Shanghai's modernity, but it is plagued by mounting debt. And no one seems to hold any hope of recovering the original 10-billion-yuan investment.

A project to extend the line was approved recently, but that will hardly haul it out of the red.

The 33-kilometer maglev line from Pudong International Airport to Longyang Road, also in Pudong, reported operational deficits of 260 million yuan in 2004 and 440 million yuan in 2005. Many saw the journey as a tourist attraction rather than a convenient shuttle to the airport.

The extension project, also about 30 kilometers long, would go west from Longyang Road to Hongqiao International Airport. It is expected to play a major role in helping dispatch some 70 million people visiting Shanghai for the 2010 World Expo.

That could be a boon for the six-month event. But it is vital the maglev survives as an economically viable transport option after the expo.

The maglev's much higher fare compared to bus and subway travel has made and will continue to make it less appealing to price-conscious Chinese passengers.

At the same time, the extension line through the downtown area would only be allowed to run at about 100 kilometers an hour far slower than its designed speed of 430 kilometers per hour and making it no different from the slower subway lines.

And the extended maglev line would produce more noise and require more housing relocation than a subway line.

To add to its woes, last year saw a maglev disaster in Germany that killed 23 people and the maglev fire in Shanghai. Both dented the reputation of the high-tech transport.

With another 6 billion yuan to be injected into the extension line, no one has so far talked about how to recoup the total 16-billion-yuan investment or even how to strike a balance between the maglev line's high maintenance costs and its operating costs.

It seems most likely that investing in the extension line would enlarge the current deficit, rather than diminish it.

The economics regarding the maglev could also be applied to the proposed Shanghai-Hangzhou maglev line, which is still to be approved.

How many people want to pay several times more just to save one hour on a 175-kilometer ride to Hangzhou? Even if the maglev could draw passengers away from the railway companies, it would be a huge waste of the country's valuable transport resources.