So, my friend Dave got shipped to China twice before I did.  The first time, neither of us knew that the world’s only commercial Maglev train was operating between Shanghai/Pudong International Airport and Longyang Road Station in Shanghai.  The second time, we knew, but it turns out that taking the Maglev into Shanghai probably makes your trip out to Tatung longer, not shorter.  If you drive from the airport, you can (mostly) go around Shanghai.  If you take the Maglev into the city, you have to drive in the city, and that can be a mess.

 

Bruce at Tatung suggested to Dave that the thing to do was to just arrive at the airport early so that he could ride the Maglev into the city, then just turn around and come back.  But, that meant getting up hellishly early, and Dave didn’t want to.  I couldn’t blame him.

So, I was determined that on my trip, I was going to ride the Maglev.  But, despite two trips into Shanghai, it didn’t happen.  So, I went with Plan B.  I got up on Friday at 3:30am.

 

Bruce arranged a car to take me to the airport, and they usually allow 2 hours for drive time in case of traffic.  My flight left for Tokyo at 10, so to have the usual 2 hours at the airport, I needed to get there at 8.  Allowing an hour to ride the Maglev to Shanghai and back (8 minutes there, 8 minutes back, 15 minutes in between, plus an allowance for buying tickets and possible delays), that meant I had to leave the hotel at 5am.  Thus the early awakening.

 

In the end, I got to the airport at about 6:40.  The Northwest ticket counter was closed, so my plan to check in and then ride the trains was dashed, but I think I probably couldn’t have done it anyway, the way it was laid out.  So, that was best in the end.  I just dragged my bag along.  Since I was so early, I actually got to ride the first train of the day, which meant that I could get on and sit for about 10 minutes before departure, fuss with my cameras, and then ride nearly alone.

 

Was it worth it?  Yeah!  The only bummer in the whole deal is that the Maglev isn’t totally silent, and so they don’t run it at full speed before 8:30 in the morning (or after 5:30pm).  Top speed, by the way, is a little bit north of 430kph (about 270mph)!!  Between 7 and 8:30, and between 5:30 and 9pm, they go “only” 300kph (about 190mph).  That’s definitely slower, but the experience was still super cool.  If I ever go back to Shanghai (and I fervently hope that won’t happen in 2006), I’m really going to try hard to get there during top-speed hours, though.

 

 

The seats were comfy, but they really didn’t need to be for an 8-minute ride!  There’s talk of building a new line to connect to Shanghai’s other airport, or even one to connect to Suzhou.  If they did the latter, it would be an incredible improvement to get to Tatung!

 

One interesting moment came on the return trip, when we passed the second Maglev coming the other way.  With a closing speed of 600kph, there were two very distinct “bang!” noises.  One as the trains crossed into each other’s aerodynamic influence, and one as they crossed out.  Wow.  Must be really interesting at 430!