Since Shanghai's maglev train has opened to public Thursday, Shanghai citizens have shown their great interest. It's said that train tickets before January 11 have been sold out.
The Shanghai Transrapid Maglev Line, the world's first high-speed commercial commuter system using state-of-the-art electromagnetic levitation technology, was put into trial operation on Tuesday. Visiting German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji took a test ride, paving the way for more Chinese contracts.
The maglev train will ensure that it takes no more than 30 minutes to travel between neighboring cities in the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and areas around Bohai Bay in north China, thus boosting economic integration in these areas.
It will also make long-distance business trips and traveling more economical and faster.
China is currently pondering a 200-km (125-mile) route from Shanghai's airport to the city of Hangzhou, and a much more ambitious 1,250-km line linking Shanghai to the capital Beijing.
(china.org.cn January 4, 2003)
