Building The World's Largest Urban Rail Transit System

"In 1990, four years after Los Angeles broke ground on its Red Line subway, Shanghai began to build a subway system too.

Los Angeles was one of the richest cities in the world, with an extensive freeway network, top-notch engineers and serious congestion problems. Shanghai was poor, a decaying post-colonial metropolis shaking off decades of economic stagnation. Its streets were congested too -- with bicycles.

Most Los Angeles residents know the story of what happened...Shanghai? It is well on its way to building the largest urban rail mass transit system in the world."

"In all, 36 Chinese cities are in the midst of building rail-based public transit systems...China seems little hindered by the pressures that plague transit projects in the West."

"...the system works like this: Planners draw subway lines on a map. Party officials approve them. Construction begins. If anything is in the way, it is moved."