The magnetic pull of China is undeniable but no matter who you are, you cannot help but by impressed by what is for me the crowning glory of one of the fastest growing cities in the fastest growing economy in the World. Shanghai has loads to offer the visitor but the one guarantee is that if you speak to someone that has been to China and has visited Shanghai they will always mention the maglev train. Opened in 2004 the magnetic levitation train can reach 350 km/h in 2 minutes! The train runs from Long Yang road station to the Pu Dong international airport station and takes about 7.5 minutes and reaches speeds of 430 km/h. The top speed reached was 501 km/h (311 mph) faster than the bullet trains of Japan.

This marvel of modern technology actually isn’t that modern as the technology was patented around 70 years ago in Germany. But the technology was not there at the time and from money and technology constraints it has never been put into operational use.

Sadly, as with many things in Asia and China, the actual benefit of this system are rather short lived as the Long yang station is not a very useful place to be, the track is only 30 kms long and the transport costs are very high, so it is really a little bit for show. However, if we believe the hype then a new link may be built between the two airports (the other airport is Hong Qiao) and possibly even between Shanghai and Beijing and that really would be beneficial-although everyone appears rather close-lipped about the cost.

The cost of tickets are 50 RMB for a single trip, 80 RMB for a round trip but if you present a same day air ticket then you can get a 10 RMB discount off the price of the single trip. The train operates from 7am till 9.30pm and trains run every 15 minutes.

It does seem the magnetic pull of China is currently limited to this small demonstration track, but if the country continues to grow at its current rate then the pull should get that much stronger with new lines appearing all over.