Shanghai’s Mag-Lev Train
January 30th, 2005
The ride is quiet smooth. Once the Mag-Lev has accelerated the cars moving on the highway appear to be stationery.
The massive sums Shanghai spent on the Mag-Lev did not include it seems review of signs by native English speakers.
I arrived on a weekday afternoon but found ridership well below capacity, even now that the fare has been reduced to RMB 50.
You can pay RMB 90 for a “VIP” seat, but it’s a waste. The regular seats are quite comfortable, and no amenities are provided in the VIP cars other than a slightly wider seat. Plus the day I rode the VIP cars were the one furthest from the boarding area. I had to haul my luggage through most of the train before taking a seat.
Intensively cultivated fields besides the Mag-Lev tracks.
The Mag-Lev terminal station, with a banner against drug use. You can pick up the Shanghai subway from here.
Posted from my Sony U
February 1st, 2005 at 2:30 am
Despite a Shanghainese, I can’t see any benefits from the construction of the mag-lev train and the spotlights poured by our government and media on it. It only serves as another piece of evidence that our taxpayers’ contribution to the metropolis has been lavished. To build a mag-lev train, unfortunately, would be the last thing many developed countries wanna do given the extremely high costs and possible protests by their people. The project was doomed to be a money-burner instead of a fare-earner, and the government was well aware this fact before their decision to build. But to show off Shanghai’s brilliant achievments should be a political task for our cadre. They are eager to let the world understand how rich Shanghai is by means of state-of-the-art though uneconomical monsters. “Economically, this train might not be profitable, but politically, it is more than profitable!” claimed one of the esponsible official. Now everybody knows the train can’t make money. The project company that runs the line is desparately struggling with the red everyday. And the train has been turned into an entertaining cockhorse for a tiny number of travellers hoping to experiece nothing but “the terrific speed”. No wonder, this priority to politics rather than profitability eventually lead to lots of critics by economists and businessmen. It could have been much more useful if the money invested in the train had been spent on schools, hospitals or a new subway. It’s a pity our government is not good at arithmatics.
March 7th, 2005 at 12:22 am
I am also a Shanghainese. I think your opion is absolutely disrespectful. The Maglev train from the PuDong airport to LongYang station is only a a “demonstration route”, which should show that the “fast, energy-saving, environmentally-friendly transportationsystem” is suitable for deployment in other parts of China.
Now the maglev
route is planned to be extended by 170 kilometers (105 miles) to Hangzhou. And the new line is expected to be in service no
later than 2010, when Shanghai hosts the World Expo.
In conclusion, the Maglev train is worth every penny of taxpayer’s money. I’m proud to be a part of it.
March 22nd, 2005 at 12:11 pm
Despite not being a Shanghainese and aknowledging that there were likely cost overuns on the project, one can only admire Shanghai for being a pioneer in this area. The MagLev train is porbably the most efficient (and environmental) mass-transportation system currently available.
Think about what it could do (in terms of economic and other benefits) in high-traffic relative short distances like NY-DC or NY-Boston.
Currently, traveling from NY to DC or Boston takes not less than 3hrs (including the cab ride to the airport) and costs US$200 (or more) each way. A MagLev train would save you 2hrs form downtown to dowtown. There are “shuttle” flights every 30 min starting around 6am and ending around 11pm. Conservatively this adds to about 35 flight per day with a total capacity of, say, 100 seats per plane and a load factor of 70%, leads to 5000 passangers per day (round trip). In dollar terms, we can calculate this market to be worth (5000 psg/day * 250 days/yr * $400/rt =) $500 million/yr. I am, conservatively, assuming no traffic on weekends and also giving $0 value to the passenger railway an bust market that exists in this routes.
What would the cost be? Distance is aprox 300km. The investmet to build a MagLev train system, according to numbers on the internet, could be $10 million per km, but lets use $20 million/km. This gives a total investment of $6000 million. Hence, a very appropriate rate of return for a public project that would save more than 5 million man-hours per year (5000 psg/day * 250 day/yr * 4 hrs saved/rt). Again, please note that I am excluding the time saved to people taking the train or bus. Taking an average of $100/hr of cost for each of these man hours, the economic benefit adds to $500 million per year.
In addition, there are other benefits like less pollution, less noise, less system complexity, and more safety.
March 25th, 2005 at 3:52 pm
The Shanghai Mag-Lev train demonstrates the success of economic progress.
It demonstrates the determination of the Central and local government to build the fastest train on earth.
It reflects thousands years ago of teh determonation of Chinese people to build the Great Wall/
It demonstrates to the world despite the techology was invented 70 years ago. No western countries dare to build one because afraid of the cost and unable to recover the expenses.
The MODERN CHINA demonstrates to the world mass-transit, Mag-Lev train are the way to go for the mass.
The Government and the contract which runs the Meg-Lev train demonstrates CHINA will rule the world in the next 500 years !!
CHINA will become the world and CHINA will the “Premier of this Century !”
This is not a showcase but demonstrates the determination of Chinese people to build, and build, from Great Wall to the Shanghai Meg-Lev to show the world we Chinese are peace-loving people but also technological innovative and have the best technology to build the fastest train.
Go ride the stupid subway in New York City–what a joke !!! You can get killed in New York City Subway system !!! LOL !!!