High Speed Travel

Last week on Friday, we left for the tropical island of Hainan to spend a few days basking in the sun and relaxing. We flew out of the Pudong airport, which has been the airport for our international flights to date. Normally, we take a cab there and back and the fare is about $20.00 each way, give or take. It is only about 40 km from the apartment to the airport, but the ride can take anywhere from an hour to close to two hours, depending on traffic. There is a train that connects the airport with the subway system of Shanghai, but to date, we have not arrived early enough, or left with the minimal amount of luggage to make the subway ride comfortable.

The name maglev, stands for magnetic levitation, which is how the train is propelled forward. It was engineered by Germans and put into place a short number of years ago in Shanghai at the cost of 1.2 billion. The trains float over a guideway using the basic principles electromagnetic propulsion is that opposite poles attract and like poles repel. Maglev trains do not have an engine and are powereed by electrified coils in the guideway walls. You can read about it in greater detail here.

On this short trip, I had only a backpack, and the timing was right. I left the apartment, walked to the number 1 subway line, and rode under the river to the Pudong side of Shanghai. I exited at the Longyang station and walked up the stairs to the Maglev Train station. I quickly bought my ticket (which I obtained at a discount for showing my plane ticket) for 40 yuan (about 6.00), and immediately boarded the train. The 30 kilometer ride to the airport takes 8 minutes. The train travels upwards of 341 km per hour and is a super quiet and smooth ride. I have taken the shinkansen (bullet train) in Japan and this one is way faster. Some people claim that it makes them a little dizzy to look outside. I did not feel that; there isn't much time to feel anything actually. I just had enough time to take a photo of the top speed (included here for you- albeit a little fuzzy- but check the speed rating!) and take a short video for JCS who was not on the train with me. Great ride! I made it to the airport from the house, in about 40 minutes.

I looked at a number of articles online, and there is always talk about extending the line to Beijing or to Hangzhou. Given the high price for construction, it will depend on whether it is worth the economic return to do so. One of the articles mentioned that they don't think that the construction will ever pay for itself, since it is seldom used. I was one of only a handful of people on that train. My suggestion to them would be that they have the service continue after 4 o'clock in the afternoon; that might help recover their costs.