After being stuck in development hell long before COVID hit, Shanghai Pudong Airport (PVG) is finally getting a proper high speed rail line to the city center and Hongqiao transportation hub, cutting the airport transfer time by more than half. There are two lines under construction, and the linchpin of the megaproject will be the Shanghai East railway station, a sorely needed a multimodal transport hub for the Pudong New Area. That's right, Shanghai East is finally getting built!

Currently getting from Pudong to Hongqiao takes 70-90 minutes, depending on the route. The new HSR lines will cut it down to 40 minutes. The Shanghai municipal government is aiming for a 2024 launch, but we'll see if Omicron fucks the timeline.

> Lianggang Express line: A north-south line from Shanghai East to the Lianggang industrial park, in the Nanhui g̵h̵o̵s̵t̵ ̵c̵i̵t̵y̵ Free Trade Zone (where Shanghai Maritime University is). A branch line after Xiayan Road will run to the under-construction PVG Terminal 3, with thru service to...

> Airport Link Line: East-west line from Hongqiao transport hub to Pudong Airport and Pudong T3 stations, then looping around to terminate at Shanghai East.

My question is, what took the Chinese government so long to start construction? It's a command economy where all land is owned by the State; China doesn't face the two main hurdles that tanked the Narita Shinkansen in Japan: financial (JNR's debt crisis + 90s recession) and logistical (opposition from private landowners along the proposed line).