Asia - shanghai maglev

when i first learned that the maglev would be operational this year, i committed to trying it out for the benefit of the ft community. this weekend, i made good on my promise, though not without considerable difficulty.

i had to drop a friend off at the airport on saturday and had therefore planned on taking the train back. after my friend checked in we went to the train station (about 150 meters from the terminal connected by moving walkway) and bought a ticket for Y75. then we got some food (pudong airport has pretty nice restaurants now btw), i sent her off, and returned to the train station. however, much to my dismay, the last train had already left (at 545pm!) and my ticket was completely useless (sorry, no refunds or exchanges). so i took a taxi home for an additional Y150 and wallowed in defeat.

however, not to be outdone, i decided to go back the next day to receive another friend who was coming back from hk. because the #2 subway passes right by my house and connects with the maglev, i decided to take it rather than try a taxi.

it takes 20 minutes to get from jingan temple (near the hilton and not too for from the portman, just to provide a frame of reference) to longyang road on the subway and trains run frequently. at longyang station, i had to walk about 100 meters from the subway exit to the maglev entrance. then i went upstairs, bought a ticket, got on the train, waited a total of 15 minutes (trains run every 20 minutes), and off we went.

the train itself was similar to the airport express in hk on the inside, only with fewer people. there was also a business class section for Y150 with larger seats and presumably more helpful attendants.

8 minutes later i was back at the airport. yes, the maglev is very fast.

the total travel time between my house and the terminal turned out to be 53 minutes at a cost of Y79. as previously mentioned, the taxi costs Y150 and takes about 50 minutes during non-peak times and rarely more than an hour. however, this comparision isn't fair for several reasons: 1) most people would need to take a taxi to the subway station for at least Y10 and 10 minutes; 2) i would never ride the subway with anything larger than a single rollaway (meaning a long Y50 taxi ride to longyang road)and; 3) if your party consists of more than just you, the cost of extra train tickets completely erases any economic gains you might have realized.

in short, the shanghai maglev is really cool, but incredibly useless in its current state. i'm told it will start weekday operations on the 15th and that they're considering running it later than 6pm. unfortuately, as long as longyang road is the terminus, i can't see it evolving beyond novelty status.

in spite of all the hassel, i still recommend that those of you who visit or frequent shanghai try it out at least once. just don't expect to do so in the name of convenience.

Of course it's a novelty. That's a given.
But in terms of pricing. It's no different to most other dedicated train lines servicing airports around the world. They are always priced for the individual. Once there's more than one in the party, then a taxi is always more economical. Sometimes this applies to bus fares too.

Any public enquiry about the magnetic fields inside the cars yet?

A JR engineer who rode on the Japanese maglev prototype told me his watch stopped and his cards were wiped out http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttravel_forum/frown.gif

I also recall reading an article in the SF Chronicle about unacceptable levels in BART, in the early 90's.

I always try to board a non-powered car when riding a train; obviously, this is not an option on a maglev.

The maglev commenced its full schedule (every 20 minutes between 9 and 530 or something like that) last week. More importantly for value-conscious soles like yours truly, it slashed its fares; it now only costs Y40 to ride the maglev if you can produce some sort of plane ticket (requirement is "today's ticket," but my open ticket worked fine).

Anyway, getting to the station was no less painful than last year's attempts. In fact, it was even more annoying because -- since I was coming from Xiangyang Market -- I had to do the dreaded People's Square transfer (which, fyi, is amazingly annoying when coming from the south because they try to make you walk well over a quarter mile).

In any case, I left shanxi rd. s. at 2:06 and made it to the check-in counter by 3:50, which is decent considering the holiday chaos.

Of course, a taxi still would have been much eaiser and probably just as fast, but -again- the maglev isn't about convenience; rather it's about going really fast. And this time, unlike the last, my train was quite full (seemingly mostly Chinese tourists in town for Labor Day). I felt somewhat touched because both the train's employees and passengers were visibly proud of their new toy. So much so, in fact, that I will try to continue to ride the maglev when my schedule permits (which is a bit tough coming from or going to the US since most flights arrive in the evening and depart in the early AM).

I remain puzzled by the decision to terminate this amazing product at Longyang Road. In my estimation, even if the construction costs were to triple, it would have been considerably -perhaps 10x- more useful to terminate somewhere closeer to civilization.

Any change in the schedule of the maglev lately? I have to admit that I'll probably have to try it even if it IS less convenient, but my flight arrives at 6:25am so unless the schedule has stretched, I won't be able to use it inbound. However....my departure is at 1:10pm three days later, so there's hope!

How easy or hard is it to use this if I am staying at the Grand Hyatt, Pudong? Looks like it ought to be a straightforward connection to subway line #2, but from my recent visit to Beijing (I haven't been to Shanghai yet), I have learned that what appears straightforward from a map may not turn out to be that way.

Any change in the schedule of the maglev lately? I have to admit that I'll probably have to try it even if it IS less convenient, but my flight arrives at 6:25am so unless the schedule has stretched, I won't be able to use it inbound. However....my departure is at 1:10pm three days later, so there's hope!

How easy or hard is it to use this if I am staying at the Grand Hyatt, Pudong? Looks like it ought to be a straightforward connection to subway line #2, but from my recent visit to Beijing (I haven't been to Shanghai yet), I have learned that what appears straightforward from a map may not turn out to be that way.

I can get you schedule info if you're really interested, but since doing so requires a bit more than a simple google search and you'll definitely be able to use it for your return flight, I'll hold off for now.

The subway connection is straight-forward and idiot proof, but you might want to cab it directly to Longyang Road if you have lots of luggage cuz, while the GH is close to the subway station, you'll need to cross two major roads and navigate an escalator to get there.

Staying in the GH, I'm guessing you'll get plenty of subway time so you'll know what you're getting into in advance should you choose that option.

This is the fastest train in the world; I rode it today. And, as Moondog suggests, I would recommend it be used only by people not in a hurry to catch a plane!

First of all, the train only runs once every 20 minutes, and they close the doors 2-3 minutes before departure time. So since I arrived just before a train left, I had to wait 22 minutes for departure -- longer than it would take a taxi to go that distance on the airport freeway. Secondly, when you take a taxi to the airport, it drops you at the curb close to where you check in -- with the maglev, I had to walk 10 minutes from the arrival location to my ticket counter (admittedly I was unlucky, my counter was at the far end of the airport). Finally, the starting point for the maglev is on the outskirts of Shanghai, so when I took a taxi there -- I chickened out of walking down the four flights of stairs to the subway with my bulky bags -- the taxi wastes time on city streets to get to the station.

Still, I'm glad I did it, and I recommend the ride for all Shanghai visitors. Just don't be in a hurry!

A note about the maglev schedule: as of two weeks ago, the first trains leave Longyang Rd to the airport at 8:20 AM, and the last trains at a surprisingly early 17:30. This limits the utility of the maglev by quite a bit. :(

On the positive side, you can now get a one-way ticket for just Y40 if you can show a same-day plane ticket (coming or going). And the connection to the subway at Longyang Rd is quite effortless (at least with carryon only), so if you're staying anywhere along the red line the maglev is a particularly good option. But above all, it's a major thrill to zoom along at 430 km! I arrived at 6 AM and waited 2.5 hrs at the airport to catch the train, and don't regret it one bit ^

On the positive side, you can now get a one-way ticket for just Y40 if you can show a same-day plane ticket (coming or going). ^

Enjoyed trying the Maglev yesterday. However if you have an e-ticket (which we did, from KLM) they don't count that as a same day ticket. Not sure why unless they think you'll have drafted something on your PC to get the discount. They have signs up at the Longyang Road station now telling you this.

Enjoyed trying the Maglev yesterday. However if you have an e-ticket (which we did, from KLM) they don't count that as a same day ticket. Not sure why unless they think you'll have drafted something on your PC to get the discount. They have signs up at the Longyang Road station now telling you this.

not sure much thinking goes into it, but that (proof that you have an e-ticket) is exactly what they expect. a good story would probably get the job done as well.

Not sure why...

It's very easy to understand. Chinese mentality is to get whatever discount/perks available, regardless of the intention. [I always give the example that the newspaper box we have in the US will not work in China, Hong Kong or many places, as people will absolutely take the whole stack.] I can guarantee you that lots of people will forge their own e-ticket itineraries to get the discount. No doubt about it.

This is the fastest train in the world; I rode it today. And, as Moondog suggests, I would recommend it be used only by people not in a hurry to catch a plane!



That's absolutely wrong.
Japan has way faster trains.
Still, it's true that PVG MagLev, which is HSST, is the fastest train for commercial service in the world.
PVG MagLev operates at 430km/h.
However, a Japanese MagLev, which is MLX-01, has recorded 581km/h.
Technically, HSST can't speed more than 500km/h.
PVG MagLev was imported from Germany.
Germany was the first country to develop MagLev in the world.
They made MagLevs based on conductivity.
Their MagLevs levitate 10mm above from ground, and can speed up to roughly 500km/h.
Japan was the second country to develop MagLev in the world.
They made MagLevs based on superconductivity.
Their MagLevs levitate more than 10cm away from the ground.
I'm not sure how fast it can operate up to; some folks say 700km/h.
Conductivity system is decent for short hops, while superconductivity system is appropriate for long distance runs at very fast.
Since superconductivity is extremely inefficient, Japanese MagLevs aren't in commercial service.
As far as know, PVG Maglev is the only MagLev in commercial service in the world perhaps.
I wonder there is any other country rather than Japan that use superconductivity system.
Korea was the third country to develop Maglev in the world.
They chose condutivity system, because it fits for metro.
By the way, I saw a video file that was taken in a Japanese MagLev, and it was accelerating really fast.

Anyone else find the Maglev "museum" at the station rather tacky? I guess it's typical of China nowadays, though, which is to showcase the country's progression as "world-class" anyway it can. Still, it might be interesting for the locals.

I found the overall experience not very "user-friendly". First of all, the station is a bit of a walk from the airport arrivals area. It's also not very obvious where the train is, unlike the Hong Kong airport. There are several footbridges that go that direction, though not all of them reach the Maglev. There is also an ominous lack of signs to this station. And unlike the Airport Express in HK, the closing time for this train is not logical at all. If it is to be a serious mode of transportation into the city, it should be operational anytime there are planes arriving. We arrived on a delayed flight around 10pm, and being tired and in a hurry, walked on auto-pilot to the station. It was closed obviously, which did not improve our mood, nor were there signs informing of its opening hours on the footbridge that we took.

I also wonder how popular this train is as there is usually no taxis at the Pudong station when one arrives. There is usually a 20 minute wait involved, though surprisingly, there usually isn't a queue for the taxis either. Am I missing something here?

Still, I am thankful for the Maglev when it’s operational as the quick train ride into the city is far preferable than the 40+ minutes it usually takes by taxi. In fact, I am just thankful for Pudong International Airport in general, as the old Hongqing airport was just plain awful.

When I rode the maglev to the airport, there was a large queue of taxis waiting for arriving passengers at the Longyang road terminal. Maybe this is a function of time of day? But I concur that the experience is not very user-friendly for actual traffic to and from the airport; it seems to be mainly aimed at people takiing round trip junkets.

N227UA, I stand corrected, what I was intending to say was this was the fastest train in the world in regular commercial service.

hi,

you can get as FTL or SEN of Lufthansa M & M a free upgrade to first class on pvg maglev.

you collect 125 miles oneway. as ftl and 250 as sen.

and the museum is for free for ftl / sen.

and the museum is for free for ftl / sen.
The museum is free anyway if you have a same-day maglev ticket...