... Shanghai
While in Shanghai and not wanting to go on a shopping trip we decided instead to take the Maglev train from the Longyang road station out to Shanghai’s Pudong international airport which was far more interesting for me than going on yet another shopping trip.
What is so special ... Read review
Advantages: Unique, Reliable & Fast. Disadvantages: Over in too quick a time.
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While in Shanghai and not wanting to go on a shopping trip we decided instead to take the Maglev train from the Longyang road station out to Shanghai’s Pudong international airport which was far more interesting for me than going on yet another shopping trip.
What is so special about the Shanghai Maglev train?
The train travels on a monorail type structure about fifty feet above the ground. Yet it is not ... ...station is situated in downtown Shanghai above the underground station on line two of Shanghai’s metro system. The station has an exhibition area on the ground floor showing how the construction took place and different speeds of various forms of transport as a comparison and how the maglev train works.
The station is new and modern and very clean. You can buy your tickets from a kiosk despite not understanding Chinese it was easy ... more
Maglev train. Shanghai
While in Shanghai and not wanting to go on a shopping trip we decided instead to take the Maglev train from the Longyang road station out to Shanghai’s Pudong international airport which was far more interesting for me than going on yet another shopping trip.
What is so special about the Shanghai Maglev train?
The train travels on a monorail type structure about fifty feet above the ground. Yet it is not a monorail it is a train that levitates above the central magnetic rail and is propelled at very fast speeds by magnetic force by magnets along the side of the walls. The distance from this station out to the airport is about 19 miles away. The maglev train completes this journey in an incredible 7 minutes and 20 seconds.
Where to get the train.
Longyang road station is situated in downtown Shanghai above the underground station on line two of Shanghai’s metro system. The station has an exhibition area on the ground floor showing how the construction took place and different speeds of various forms of transport as a comparison and how the maglev train works.
The station is new and modern and very clean. You can buy your tickets from a kiosk despite not understanding Chinese it was easy to buy the tickets at the kiosk as they understood English. A return ticket costs 80 Yuan and a return VIP ticket costs 160 Yuan. When we were there it was equivalent to £7 return and £14 respectively. At today’s exchange rate it is £8 and £16. The trains depart roughly every 15 minutes.
Once you have purchased your ticket you are let through the barriers and can go up onto the platform to await the next available train. Along the platform there is a glass barrier to keep passengers back until the train pulls into the station and stops completely. There is no noise at all as there is no engine and the braking is through lowering the magnetic current. The train approaches the station at speed and slows down as it enters the station. The design of the train is very modern and sleek looking. Passengers on the train are let out on the opposite side and once the train is clear the glass door barrier goes back and you can enter the train. Gloved staff are on hand to supervise passengers getting on and off the train.
Once we were on the train it felt very comfortable from Shanghai’s humidity as the train is air-conditioned and the seats are all leather and very comfortable. In the VIP carriage there were no other passengers and it is right at the front of the train. The driver was a nice cheerful lady who was quite happy to let us see into the driver’s compartment.
When the power is turned on you can feel the slight elevating of the train carriage, the train rises approximately 10 centimetres in the air and then it gently starts to move off becoming faster and faster as it is propelled forward soon reaching a speed of 220 miles an hour in about 2 minutes. The ride is extremely smooth and there is a digital speed display at the front of the carriage showing just how fast you are travelling. It gets even faster reaching a speed of 268 miles per hour passing the returning train on the other track midway at an incredible speed. Then it gradually slowed down slowly and without any feeling of jolting or braking.
This was a joint venture by a German and Chinese consortium and there was talk of extending the Maglev train to other cities but there have been recent demonstrations about the possibility of radiation and certainly about the cost of the project. It cost over one billion pounds to build. This is what has been the main drawback of building this type of transport in other countries namely the cost.
As for the experience.
It was well worth missing the shopping trip for. It was such an interesting experience and unbelievable watching the train speed through the country side. I would definitely recommend anyone with a spare morning to giving it a go. It’s quite exciting watching the train reach its fastest speed and amazing seeing things whizz past in front of your eyes so fast especially being nearer the ground at such speed normally associated with flying.
Advantages: Great Sights, Changing Culture. Disadvantages: Difficult Language
on the face of it appears to be like any western city like Paris or London. There are huge skyscrapers, designer clothes stores, McDonalds (known in China as the American embassy) and as usual massive construction projects. However go two streets down from any main thoroughfare and you see a different picture of poverty and a more traditional chinese lifestyle. Even in Chinese I managed to navigate the underground passes and even book a ship ride round the port. I also went into a chinese supermarket where I may have been the forst western person to set foot and was amused to see people coming up to peer in my basket to see what I would buy. Shanghai is a microcosm of the old and the new in China.
Shanghai has the only working Maglevtrain capable of speeds of over 500km per hour. My wife insisted on going and so we did. It was a fun experience ...
, with the instruction to take 4 now, and 4 before bed.
I took the 4, and then learned that this particular Chinese medicine is traditionally slow acting, which is exactly what you need when you're sitting on the big white telephone. Not chemically fast acting and problem solving but slow, and make-you-sweaty herbs. All they did was give me an insight into the menopause with repeated rush of hot flushes that just made everything near me damp. I skipped the other 4, as I didn't fancy sleeping in the bath.
I was still batting well below par with my golf stick when we were leaving Shanghai to fly to Hong Kong some 48 hours later, so much so that I sort of sat unmoved in the corner whilst we rode on the Maglevtrain back to the airport.
The journey from Airport to Shanghai Centre on arrival took around 45 minutes and involved quite a lot of traffic ...
Muffin_the_Mule 22.06.2009
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: exceptional Review of General: Shanghai
