Shanghai Blog

Hello all, this is an interim blog to say I got home safely and we hope and Mum's operation will have been a sucess.

Busy 3 days in Shanghai spent mainly in the back of taxis, however I did experince the MAGLEV train ride fromairport to the outskirts of town. Bit of a rush, bit like the glider flight in Botswana that I remember so well. Here's an overview off the web;

Construction began in April 2001 of the first commercial Transrapid system. Despite the fact that the maglev was the first revenue-producing point-to-point high-speed maglev in the world, the system was up and running by 2004. The 30-km line runs between Pudong Shanghai International Airport and the Shanghai Lujiazui financial district. An end-to-end ride takes about eight minutes. A world record for commercial maglev systems was set on November 12, 2003. A five-section train achieved the top speed of 501 km/h (311 mph) while another vehicle passed at 430 km/h on the adjacent track. The Transrapid in Shanghai has a design speed of over 500 km/h (310 mph) and a regular service speed of 430 km/h (267 mph). Shanghai Maglev is the fastest railway system in commercial operation in the world. Other maglev lines are under consideration in China.

I only seem to have taken two misserable pictures of Shanghai so I won't bother to up load them, but it's a grand place. Her's a few pic's of the MAGLEV which was the highlight of the trip. Really pulls the G's around that curve, woof! woof!

www.monorails.org/tMspages/MagShang.html

Hope the link works for the photos

Love Nic