2014.05.06 Shanghai Maglev

Shanghai Maglev Demonstration Line was a nice addition to my stay in China.  'Demonstration' is the key word her: maglev (= magnetic levitation) train was built to both show off China's potential, but also to check viability of using this means of transport to connect distant cities. It is used commercially as shuttle from Shanghai's airport, but its success is limited by not getting closer to the city centre. Still, there were tens of passengers boarding the train - after all it cuts time required to get to the airport significantly (30 km in 8 minutes!) in comparision to standard rail link, with higher cost easier to digest when including in total price of long haul trip. I'm sure a try of high speed travel is one of the reasons to choose it too :)
I had a morning walk trying to find some nice spots, but as the tracks of the maglev are elevated, I couldn't use Shanghai's skyline as backdrop:

Views from my hotel:
 

There is a nice Maglev Museum at the ground floor of Longyang Road station, with exhibition describing history of increasing speed of railway and reasons to involve magnetic levitation for transport purposes, showing all other maglev projects all over the world as well as technology of  Shanghai's line. If one's not in rush, it is worth visiting (free entry).

Longyang Road station:

On board of the train, apart from space (3+3 seat arrangement) there is not much difference. Start is quieter, but acceleration is no different than on classic trains, only it is kept at the same rate for much longer. At high speed the travel becomes a bit shaky - there is no suspension at all apart from magnetic gap, so any imperfections of the track are transmitted to the train without much of dampening. The display in the museum pointed that windows are equipped with 'deceletaring glass', but without explaining what phenomenon is used. When watching through the window nothing unusual could be seen, but with no reference it is hard to judge. The fact is the cars on the motorway runing alongside seemed stationary - no wonder: