| High Fei,
> I have one question though: what are roles of the Maglev hostess? Are they similar to the stewardess on airplanes (i.e. > serving food, beverage)?? Actually, on the short 8 minutes trip there is nothing served and it seems the hostesses are only there to look good and are often photograped smiling with the passangers when the speed hits 431 km/h. However, they will announce when another train going the other way is passing (the Shanghai line has two "rails"). IMHO THE MOST EXCITING experience, especially the first time when you do not know what to expect (I wonder why WJS did not mention it, maybe there was no such train on his trip, I had it in 3 of 4 trips): In a sudden you experience two not too loud bumps on the train at at an interval less 1sec, and both ends of the other train have already passed. WOW!! On my 2nd trip I took care to grab the moment visually, but its only a shadow that passes at > 600km/h (Actually they seem to prefer to do it in an area where both trains are not at maximum speed, yet the German website claims they already tested the passing while one train already hit 501 km/h and the other one was around 430 km/h) I think they also have the hostesses to demonstrate and "test drive" that you really could savely serve food and stuff at 430 km/h, as I said above, no problem walking around at max. speed, the center aisle is wider than one might think, because the seats are pretty wide, in airplane "economy class", they would probably cramp 6 or even 7 seats in the same space! Joachim |
Inside Pudong Airport Maglev Train