"The other trainline stops in Shanghai at an urban station......when you exit you have to climb a set of stairs ( up and over the adjacent rail line)....that is a very taxing climb. As I recall it, it is about 60 steps straight up ( 20 steps, a short landing, 20 steps, a short landing etc), and the same on the way down. There are hustlers there looking to help you carry your bag(s) up and down...use your judgement if you use one. There is NO taxi station at this train station....you literally have to go into the busy street to try to hail a cab. With the crush from the train also trying to hail cabs, it is quite a scene."
That woud be the south station. I guess they have not fixed it yet. I hadn't realized the main station had a line to Hangzhou.
(yet) another point to note is that the Shanghai-Hanghzou train is much nicer than most other trains in China (the other nice lines are the HK-Shanghai-Beijing ones).