Day 30 Escape from Shanghai (Maglev)

We are sitting onboard our ship in the Shanghai harbour, waiting for the ship to leave. The sea is murky, the sky clouded with fog, there is a faint smell of pollution and our departure is as yet delayed by over an hour. It was a similar story this morning. The ship docked in plenty of time at 5 am, but at 7 am the central immigration procedures were still underway. In China these things take time. Despite the burden of beaurocracy, we received a very warm welcome in Shanghai and spent a wonderful day. Once all the passports and visas had finally been checked, disembarkation was very swift and brilliantly organised. Local guides were placed along the passages of the impressive new terminal building to greet us individually and handout maps. The uniform coaches were parked ready to leave  at parallel angles, and local folk dancers lined up to welcome our entry in to China.

 In this blog post I will concentrate on our journey on the Maglev train, and then write a second post about my impressions of Shanghai as a city.

‘Maglev’ stands for magnetic levitation. It describes the means of moving a train using electro- magnetism to set up opposing magnetic fields to propel a train at high speed without rails or wheels.

The Maglev train in Shanghai runs 31km from the city centre station to the airport.

The journey takes 7 minutes and reaches a maximum speed of 431 km per hour, half as fast again as a Formula 1 car.

Surprisingly, you don’t feel the pace. There are no bumps or vibrations. Apart from the digital display the only indication of the speed is when you look out of the window at the rapidly passing scenery. This was an amazing experience.