Shanghai Area Trains

In the past few years I've been regularly traveling to Shanghai (I have family there) and I was able to travel on several different train systems.

At Pudong Intl. Airport, they have the Shanghai Maglev. 431km/h and it travels the 30 some km in around 8 minutes. Its cool to see yourself race past cars driving along the highway alongside the tracks. It has two stations, one in the airport and one at the Long Yang Rd Shanghai Metro Station.

The Shanghai Metro is a very new and clean. The ride is very smooth and quiet.Currently there are 5 lines but there are plans in the works for over 7 other lines, many of which will open when the 2010 World Expo is in Shanghai. It's also pretty high-tech. There are signs showing when the next train comes and platform doors on some stations and has cards with RFID tags (or something like that) for entry and exit cards. The trainsets all have AC and its open all the way from the front to the back.

I also had the chance to ride on a new "D" class train to Hangzhou. Shanghai South Station is brand new and the wailting area is built in the shape of a circle on top of the tracks.Its the largest of its kind and is similar to that of an airport. A far cry from those old dirty railway stations found in many places. The trains currently travel around 170 km/h but I've heard that they have the ability to run up to 200 km/h. The trains are also new and very clean. They are (I believe) permanently coupled sets and you can walk from one end of the train to the other. The seats also recline like airline seats unlike other trains.

Overall, I was impressed with the new trains in China but they still have a long way to go in upgrading the rest of the fleet and the stations. If you choose carefully, you can have a good experience on the rails in China

Thanks for that . Do you speak chinese , or is there English signs at the stations to assist with directions etc ?I imagine there would be at the airport , but how about in the city , further afield ?

I do speak Chinese. There is English at the airport (pretty good translations) but the Metro stations do have spelling and grammar errors here and there. I think there were also English signs in Shanghai South Station.

If you're interested, the busiest station in the metro system is People's Square with lines 1, 2, and soon, 8. The trainsets in the Metro run off overhead lines instead of third rails.

I am interested , thanks . are the subways crowded , indian style? , or quite orderly ?

I don't know what Indian Style means but trains do get crowded when you near the city center (People's Square). Line 4 runs in a loop and isn't too crowded most of the time. Order is (unfortunately) a rarity in the Metro system. People crowd around the doors and make it hard for people on the train to get out. People will rush to get a seat at terminal stations and you get pushed around a lot at busy stations. Your best bet would be one of the outlying stations in PuDong (the new district in Shanghai) if you don't want to be pushed around.

If I had a dime for every time I've heard "Indian style" used as a comparative to other systems...

Nothing against you David, so please do not take this in any way personally, but the reference to Indian unruliness on the rails is really becoming a bit too commonplace for me to be comfortable.

There are quite a few instances of passengers riding on the tops and the sides of Indian trains, especially in the Mumbai metro, but this is far, far from the norm. The Indian system is generally reliable and orderly.

Even more, the IR is not a proper comparison to the Shanghai metro. The Delhi Metro is a much better comparison, as while it certainly is not maglev, it is a world-class system that is orderly, clean, and modern.

Now, I'm completely sure that you had not meant any harm, but I guess it just pushed a button.

Back to your regularly scheduled thread. This is a system I'd definitely like to ride at some point. I have a number of friends from Shanghai, hopefully they'll send a few pictures next time they go. To the OP, would you happen to have any for us?

I have prints of the maglev but no scanner.