Funding shortages halt China rail projects

China railway builders are being forced to halt construction of over 10,000 kilometers of rail lines due to funds shortages and the July train disaster, The Wall Street Journal reported. Wang Mengshu, deputy chief engineer at state-owned contractor China Railway, said China’s tightening monetary partly reflects a policy shift in how Beijing supports railway projects, brought by the fatal Wenzhou crash. All current railway projects, including the construction of 5,400 kilometers of tunnels, have been suspended. About half of the halted construction work is on high-speed railway lines, he said. “[Railway builders] are facing a serious problem with funding shortages, and we have trouble paying wages for migrant workers and our own employees, as well as suppliers of cement, steel and other materials. If the problem is not solved immediately and properly, it would cause social unrest,” according to the engineer, who estimated that there are six million migrant workers employed by railway projects.