Maglev Train, Shanghai

Maglev Train Shanghai

Source: Wikipedia.

In January 2003, the world’s first commercial Maglev train was inaugurated in Shanghai, China. Built from German technology at a cost of 1.2 billion dollars, it links the new Shanghai Pudong International airport to the center of Pudong, in the eastern part of Shanghai. The system has a length of about 30 kilometers with maximum speeds of about 440 kilometers per hour. It takes on average 8 minutes to go from one end to the other, making it the fastest urban transit system in the world. The principles of magnetic levitation technology are quite apparent in the above picture, where the train is magnetically suspended 15 centimeters above the guideway.