the shanghai maglev

on saturday i decided to take the maglev back to the city after dropping my sister and brother-in-law off at the pudong airport. i've wanted to ride it ever since i moved here but either arrived too late or had too many bags with me.


i started at the arrivals hall where there was quite a large mass of people waiting for arriving passengers. to get to the maglev station, one has to take an escalator up to the mezannine floor and walk along until one reaches one of the long corridors connecting the terminal to the station.


the corridors are rather featureless except for three people movers spaced quite far apart, only one of which was functional when i was there.


tucked away in a corner of the parking lot underneath the corridor is the 'parking lot restaurant'. one can imagine all sorts of culinary delights await inside.


after entering the station i lined up to buy a ticket. the choices were a 1-way pass for 50rmb or a vip 1-way pass for 100rmb. i decided to splurge and spend the extra 50rmb (us$6) for a vip ticket so i could experience the full luxury of the maglev.


i took an escalator down to the lower level where about 40 people were already waiting for the train to arrive. there was a barrier running the length of the platform with doors every 10 meters or so. i wandered up and down looking to see if there were any special vip areas or instructions but there weren't any directions for passengers.


the track itself was very wide, notably more so than the one used by bangkok's skytrain.


after about 10 minutes the train pulled up. i wandered down the platform and eventually reached the last car which had different colored seats and a separate door attendant. i showed her my ticket and she let me in- into the vip section. i wound up being the only person there aside from a station employee. the sole benefit of the vip section seemed to be slightly larger faux-leather yellow seats. doh!


above the seats were little airline style reading lights.


here we go! pulling away from the station (mpeg - 4.1mb).


into the first turn- notice the train leaning into the corner. (mpeg - 4.1mb).


accelerating up to 440kph (275mph). (mpeg - 2.6mb).


running at full speed (mpeg - 4.4mb). the ride was rougher than i had expected for something riding on magnets- i had a bit of trouble holding the little camera steady.


arrival at the longyang road station, 8 minutes after departure.


the longyang road station is in pudong, on the east side of town. from there one must either take the subway or a taxi to one's final destination as there's not much near there.


there are a few exits from the station. a couple of signs pointed to taxis but there were no clear directions marking which way to go- a number of people stood around near the ticketing area trying to find the proper exit. i eventually followed a group of people over the road and down into the parking lot. those guys in the photo looking in all different directions wound up being taxi touts, trying to charge me 150rmb to ride to my destination, the portman.


departing in a taxi. (mpeg - 3.9mb). the ride wound up taking over an hour as my taxi driver got lost and had to ask for directions, then took me to nanjing road east claiming it was nanjing road west.

although i really enjoyed the ride, i can't see taking the train again soon as getting to and from the station is a hassle and takes more time than taking a taxi the whole way. am glad i rode it once, though.