Authorities in Shanghai intend to construct a suspended passenger monorail system, according to an announcement made yesterday by a company involved in the project.
Driverless rail lines will be built in Jing'an, Yangpu and Baoshan districts and be based on the H-bahn system which has been operating in Germany since the 1980s, said Bao Zaiyong with Air Train International, a company tipped to provide technology for the project and participate in its construction. Bao's announcement was made at the Rail Metro China 2015 Exhibition, an industry event which kicked off yesterday in Shanghai.
The suspended trains, which can be centrally controlled to run automatically, can carry passengers at a maximum speed of 30 kilometers per hour, explained Bao. Transparent glass panels will be used for the walls of each carriage, and as many as eight carriages can be connected to form a single train, he said.
Officials in the three districts have concluded preliminary evaluations pertaining to the project, Bao told Shanghai Daily. Bao explained that an additional two years of study, followed by two years of construction, could be required before the system goes into operation.
Jing'an District will build a 2.5 kilometer suspended rail line with stations at Jing'an Temple, the Kerry Center, Westgate Mall, the Shanghai Center and the Dazhongli Project, according to Bao.
A planned nine-kilometer line in Yangpu was said to be slated for construction along the Huangpu River with a connection at Metro Line 4. A three-kilometer line in Baoshan District is set to link Metro Line 3 and the Baoshan International Cruise Liner Port, said Bao.
Press officers with the Baoshan and Yangpu governments told Shanghai Daily yesterday that they had no official statements to offer on the matter. Earlier this year, authorities in Jing'an said in their government work report that preparations for the full launch of a suspended railway system would be completed "this year."
According to Bao, construction costs for Shanghai's planned air rail system could reach 150 million yuan (US$24.2 million) per kilometer, or 20 percent the cost of building a kilometer of underground metro rail. And since the project will be suspended above the city's roads, traffic flows will not be affected.
