Shanghai - Subway Map

The city's authorities, who were increasing happy to seek advice from Western Europe and North America, decided in favour of a 40-year phased programme that would include 11 metro lines covering over 325km.

Although still in its relatively early stages with only three routes clearly mapped out, Metro has cut cross-city travel times in some cases from over an hour to a few minutes. A million journeys a day are expected by 2005.

THE PROJECT

After six years of construction and preparation work, Line 1 opened to considerable fanfares in April 1995, connecting the northern and southern districts of the city, and a 5.25km extension was added in 1996.

The early projects were delivered under a comprehensive contract between the corporation and its chosen consortium, comprising Adtranz (now Bombardier) and Siemens.

The contract with the two manufacturers covered the design, production, delivery and introduction into service of the rolling stock, traction power supply, overhead line system, station and telecommunications equipment, and signalling control and data analysis equipment. Finance was provided by a soft loan of DM 460 million from the Federal Republic of Germany.

The first phase of Line 2 was inaugurated on 13 June 2000, and when the whole section is finally completed it will link Hong Qiao International Airport and the new Pudong International Airport. The 25km Line 3, known as the Pearl Line, opened for revenue service in 2001.

INFRASTRUCTURE

Line 1, which has 16 stations, starts in the southern district at Xin Zhuang, and travels underneath the city centre to the central railway station.

The first 16.4km-long underground section of Line 2 runs from Zhongshan Park to Longdong Road Station in Pudong, and opened in September 1999, in time for the 50th anniversary of the People's Republic of China. When finally complete, Line 2 will be 55km long and stretch from Hong Qiao Airport, passing under a number of residential areas, public parks and the Huangpu River, to Pudong International Airport.

Line 3, the 19-station Pearl Line also has the main station as its focal point, but loops northwards on elevation from Shanghai South station to Zhongshan Park and terminates at Jiangwan Zhen. Starting with 25km and 19 stations, it will eventually be 62km in length.

The interiors of stations aim to make it easy for passengers to distinguish between lines. Hanging lamps and lattice flooring are constant themes but different styles of beams and columns, and individual styles of decoration have been adopted.

Power for the system is fed from the city's 110kV main supply, via two infeed stations, which feed seven sub-stations along the route.

ROLLING STOCK

The trains for Line 1 were supplied by another consortium, the German Shanghai Metro Group, which, along with Adtranz and Siemens, also includes brake equipment manufacturer AEG Westinghouse, and coach body builder Duewag.

The vehicles were designed especially to meet specifications laid down by Shanghai Metro Corporation covering the anticipated passenger numbers per hour and direction.

The trains usually operate in formations of six cars with capacity for 1,860 passengers, but these can be increased to eight cars, with the addition of two extra motor cars to cope with extra loadings at peak times. Each car also has five pairs of pneumatically operated pocket sliding doors on each side.

New trains introduced for Line 2 services incorporated technological improvements over their predecessors, and were based closely on vehicles for Guangzhou, which closely followed Shanghai in building a new light rail system. Enhancements incorporated in the new trains include more efficient air conditioning and larger doors.

When Line 3 first opened, the fleet of 28 Alstom Megapolis six-car trains had not arrived, so stock was borrowed from the other lines to offer a limited service.

In May 2002, Siemens won an order for 28 trains for the Pearl Line, with an option for another ten, while Bombarder is bulding ten new six-car train sets in Cuina for Line 1, with bogies from the UK and propulsion equipment from Sweden.

SIGNALLING/COMMUNICATIONS

Signalling installations are being provided by Alstom under the terms of the comprehensive contract it has been awarded for the development and construction of Line 3.

The motor car of each train has equipment which can detect and monitor faults, and pass on such information to the driver. The diagnostic signals are also stored so that these faults can be easily pinpointed when a train returns to the maintenance depot.

The original ticketing system has not proved successful and, from 2003, a new plastic single-journey ticket has replaced the old magnetic and paper cards. Small chips are embedded in the new tokens so passengers only need to hold them near the check-in machines while entering a subway station and throw them into the check-out machines while departing.

THE FUTURE

An ambitious plan adopted by the Shanghai Metro Corporation for 2025 envisages a comprehensive network of 11 lines over 325km, supported by seven light rail routes (136km).

Line 1 is being further extended from the current terminal at Shanghai railway station to Baoshan district in the northern part of the city. The Pearl Line will link Minghang District in the southwest and Baoshan District in the north.

Metro Lines 4 and 5 are expected to link southwest and northeast parts of the city, Pudong New Area and downtown. Line 6 will be a comparatively short line linking the downtown area and Pudong New Area, and planners are still considering whether to extend the line further westward to Pudong International Airport. Lines 10 and 11 will encircle the city.