As opposed to the cultural heritage and lavish old buildings in Beijing, Shanghai is supposed to be experienced at ground level. There is lot of culture, but nothing on the scale of the Forbidden City or the Great Wall. So with one day in Shanghai, I did what any other engineering / physics / speed interested boy would do - took a ride on the Shanghai Maglev train, the fastest commercial train in the world.
Maglev, the name derived from magnetic levitation, is transportation form using magnets to suspend and propel vehicles, rather than use a mechanical method of axels and wheels. The reduced friction means that it is possible to reach high speeds, and the technique has subsequently been adapted various places in the world, notably in Japan.
The Shanghai Maglev Train was built to impress, and in typical Chinese fashion the technology has been used more more for status than for practicality. It links the Pudong airport with Longyang Road metro station, a trip of 30 km, and even though it was built in 2003, it has not been expanded to the rest of the city or between other cities. Plans have continuously been made and put on hold
This journey itself is impressive. The 30 km are completed in under 7½ minutes, with a top speed of a staggering 431 km/h, faster than a F1 car. Tickets cost 50 yuan a piece and they are totally worth the ride. The destination airport is as uninteresting as it gets, but European cities could take note - building an airport out of the town need not be a logistical nightmare.
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