China
The Transrapid airport link in Shanghai started commercial service in January 2004. In April, the final acceptance inspection took place and the system was handed over to the customer in China.
The Shanghai Transrapid is the world's first commercial high-speed maglev system.
With an operating speed of 430 km/h, it travels on a 30-kilometer-long double-track guideway, connecting Long Yang Road Station in Shanghai to Pudong International Airport. The journey time is just under eight minutes. Three Transrapid vehicles, each with five sections, make up the maglev fleet. Until the end of 2008 over 17 million passengers have glided to the airport.
The customer for the project was the Shanghai Maglev Transportation Development Co. Ltd. (SMTDC), which was also responsible for building the guideway and the stations.
The German industrial consortium consisting of Siemens, ThyssenKrupp and Transrapid International supplied the operating systems, which included, among other things, the vehicles, the propulsion system, the power supply and the operations control system. The contract for the Shanghai project was signed in January 2001. The maiden trip took place on December 31, 2002 in the presence of then German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Chinese Prime Minister, Zhu Rongji.
As of December 2009, over 23 million people had traveled on the Transrapid in Shanghai.
Negotiations are currently under way between the Chinese customer and the German systems industry regarding an initial extension of the track to the old airport at Shanghai, Hongqiao (34 km), followed by a further phase extending the line to the city of Hangzhou. That makes a total distance of 200 km. The realization of this overall project would mean the completion of the first long-distance Transrapid project in China, thereby fulfilling a further major prerequisite and providing a reference for international applications.
