Shanghai Metro - Asia's Largest and soon to be World's Largest Metro System

[electricron]

Originally Posted by The Chemist

China is not really promoting the American lifestyle of suburban houses and driving everywhere. Only the really rich can afford such a lifestyle (car ownership is still far more of a luxury here than it is in North America, with costs far higher as a percentage of average income), and even most suburban developments are still FAR higher density than anything seen in North America, with (at least in Shanghai) good connections to the metro system.

There's nothing wrong with discouraging American lifestyle in China. Every country should encourage it's own culture and not copy someone else. Taking this topic slightly off-topic, but study these transit photos shared with us from Shanghai closely. In only one photo can you easily identify two people smiling, and they're seen in a reflection off a window of a train.

Is the smile lifestyle in Shanghai really as low as these photos suggest?

[The Chemist]

Yesterday was the 15th anniversary of the opening of the first section of the Shanghai Metro (Line 1 between Jinjiang Park and the Shanghai Railway Station), so it's pretty fitting that on the Metro's 15th Anniversary, it became the world's longest metro system with the opening of most of Line 10 to the public. Shanghai Metro now has 230 stations, 11 lines, and 425km of track (17km more than the next longest, the London Underground).

[muppet]

Originally Posted by electricron

Is the smile lifestyle in Shanghai really as low as these photos suggest?

??? Yep public transport round the rest of the world commuters are constantly hi-fiving each other and breaking into song...

[The Chemist]

Line 10 (currently only open from 9am-4pm, so crowds are not large)










Trains - built in a Chinese company joint venture with Alstom, the rolling stock on Line 10 is 3.2m wide, the widest rolling stock in the system.

[nito]

Quick question - does anyone have any indication as to the frequency on all the lines? I read up that there are only something like 162 trains (1,070 carriages) across the entire 400km route/264 station network.

I also read over at SSC that line 11 has a frequency of less than 3 trains per hour! Are the Shanghai authorities having issues sourcing enough trains before the lines open?

[The Chemist]

Originally Posted by nito

Quick question - does anyone have any indication as to the frequency on all the lines? I read up that there are only something like 162 trains (1,070 carriages) across the entire 400km route/264 station network.

I also read over at SSC that line 11 has a frequency of less than 3 trains per hour! Are the Shanghai authorities having issues sourcing enough trains before the lines open?

The Anting Branch of Line 11 is still on trial operation, but yes, frequency is currently only once every 20 minutes. And it is due to a shortage of rolling stock. My guess is that the rapid expansion of the network has put rolling stock manufacturers at full capacity, and only when expansion slows down will they be able to catch up. I think the main line of line 11 is running more frequently than that. But you have to remember that Line 11, along with the other lines operating in the far suburbs are basically operating as suburban services, given that they are in the far suburbs and the population density there isn't high enough to support 10 trains per hour frequency. As Shanghai grows and the population increases in these areas, the frequencies will also go up.

Pretty much all the other lines operate at at least 10 trains per hour at rush hour, with line 1 and 2 running at 20 trains per hour (or more) at rush hour. Line 3 and 4 share a 11km elevated section, so this means that neither line can run much more than 12 trains per hour. Rolling stock is being added very quickly, and capacity expanded as much as possible - last year ALL of the old 6-car trains on Lines 1 and 2 were converted into 8 car trains, which produced a 25% increase in capacity without having to add any more trains. But I guess that more trains will have to be bought for pretty much all lines for the foreseeable future, with ridership expected to exceed 6 million/day starting this year.

[nito]

Originally Posted by The Chemist

The Anting Branch of Line 11 is still on trial operation, but yes, frequency is currently only once every 20 minutes. And it is due to a shortage of rolling stock. My guess is that the rapid expansion of the network has put rolling stock manufacturers at full capacity, and only when expansion slows down will they be able to catch up. I think the main line of line 11 is running more frequently than that. But you have to remember that Line 11, along with the other lines operating in the far suburbs are basically operating as suburban services, given that they are in the far suburbs and the population density there isn't high enough to support 10 trains per hour frequency. As Shanghai grows and the population increases in these areas, the frequencies will also go up.

So Line 11 is a commuter line similar to the Batong Line in Beijing? Surely it would make more sense to classify such lines as commuter lines rather than metro/subway lines so that people don't think that they're going to get a turn-up and go service/comparable subway service?

[giallo]

Thanks for the pics, Chemist.

I haven't been on line 11 yet, but I did take line 9 for a six month period, and I wasn't impressed. Twelve minute waits with huge crowds. There were more people than the system could handle. Yishan station was a madhouse (granted this was before it extended in to Pudong). I hated taking the line so much that I spent the extra money on taxis everyday.

On the other hand, many of the new lines are fantastic. Line 7 is amazing. I currently live right at Jing An Temple, so now coupled with line 2, it's made traveling around the city by train so much easier. Next month I'll no longer have the luxury of living over two lines though. I'll relocate to apartment directly over line 10's Yuyuan station.

[The Chemist]

^Line 9 is way better now that it's complete all the way to Pudong. Frequency is much higher now too.

[Ch.G, Ch.G]

amazing

[The Chemist]

According to this morning's paper, another record high daily ridership level was hit last Friday, with 5.65 million passengers riding the Metro that day. The article (sorry, Chinese only) went on to say that ridership is expected to continue to climb in the run-up to the Expo opening on May 1st.

[giallo]

Originally Posted by The Chemist

^Line 9 is way better now that it's complete all the way to Pudong. Frequency is much higher now too.

I figured. Good to know.

[timeo]

Last time I went in January 2009 there were far fewer lines than what's being shown now. Jeez, things get built so quickly there (sigh)...now if only the transfers weren't so silly.

[The Chemist]

Originally Posted by timeo

Last time I went in January 2009 there were far fewer lines than what's being shown now. Jeez, things get built so quickly there (sigh)...now if only the transfers weren't so silly.

Which transfers in particular are you referring to? There are a couple of really lousy ones (Shanghai Railway Station being notable) but most of them aren't really that bad. Most of them aren't great, but most of them aren't super silly either.

[timeo]

It's been a while so I don't quite remember, but I think it was either Caoyang Road or Jiansu Road Stations; one of them required me to leave the station and then pay again, even though it clearly showed on the map that I could transfer at that interchange. There are also a few other ones that bother me, but I can't quite remember which ones; just the feeling of going down stairwells that didn't seem designed for high volumes.

[nito]

Apparently this is a map of what the Shanghai rail network will resemble in 2020+

Interesting observations include the half dozen or so commuter lines that are springing up (although some are already built in one form or another); potentially mirroring suburban developments seen in other world cities from Paris to Tokyo along rail corridors.

You also get a sense of the scale of the area the network is covering - equivalent to the combined areas of New York, Tokyo, Berlin, London and Hong Kong (about 7,000sq km)


Image sourced by z0rg at SSC, created by jiadream