China Travel Advice

Q: Heard that a maglev rail, like the one in Shanghai now, will be built between Shanghai and Hangzhou. I'm interested to know what is the schedule for the rail service to open? Anytime soon?

The maglev railway between Shanghai and Hangzhou are still in the planning stage. The most recent word is that China's Ministry of Railway Transportation has approved the project and that the construction of the railway may start as soon as this year. Still, it is said the authorities are still "examining the case" since there has been disagreement whether the cost of the project is too much given that conventional technology can be used to speed up the trains between Shanghai and Hangzhou, which are roughly 200 km from each other. So, there is no word yet when the Shanghai-Hangzhou will be completed.

Right now Shanghai has the only commercially operating maglev rail line in the world, which is 31 km in length, extending from subway Longyang Station to Pudong International Airport. Trains on the line can speed up to 400 km per hour.