Sleek, silvery and ready to fly, Shanghai's 430kph magnetic-levitation train began its daily commercial operation yesterdayday, shooting out of its station amid high hopes for better -- and much more expensive -- commuting. \nThe opening came a year and a day after German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder visited Shanghai for the maiden voyage of the German-built project. \nThe first train yesterday pulled out at 8:32am from Longyang Station with 10 passengers aboard for the 7-minute, 20-second whoosh of a journey -- 30 kilometers to Pudong International Airport. \nThe price of an economy seat is 75 yuan (about US$9), and VIP seats cost 150 yuan (about US$18). Trains will run every 20 minutes daily. \nSecurity guards stood by at the entrance. Passengers were required to go through airport-style security to board. Digital signs monitored the speed for passengers. \nBased on German technology, the US$1.2-billion train connects Shanghai to its 3-year-old airport, the city's second. \nThe system underwent nearly a year of testing since it made an inaugural experimental run on Dec. 31, 2002, carrying Schroeder and former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji. More than 200,000 people have ridden the train in weekend test runs since then. \nGerman companies spent decades and billions of dollars developing maglev technology, but had searched in vain for a customer until Shanghai leaders picked the system as a way to highlight the city's high-tech ambitions. \nSome have criticized it as an expensive prestige project with limited usefulness.
PHOTO: AP
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