Things to Do: ride the Maglev Train/Transrapid, Shanghai, China

Maglev Train/Transrapid   This train is the first commercially operated high-speed magnetic levitation line in the world.  Built by German technicians for the Olympics, it cost US$1.2 billion to build and began service in 2004.  With a top speed of 431 kmh/268 mph, this train rides 2 inches above the rails and takes only 8 minutes to travel 19 miles to the airport.  It is very loud outside the train, but very quiet inside, and the train accelerates from zero to 431 kilometers in 3 minutes (it operates at full acceleration only from 9 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.).  This train connects Shanghai Pudong International Airport and the outskirts of central Pudong, but at $25/person round-trip it isn’t inexpensive.  Access to the new Disneyland opening in 2016 is coming on another track at the station.



 


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images ©2015 Carole Terwilliger Meyers