Shanghai Metro on the right track after 30 years
Officials mark the occasion of Shanghai Metro's 30th anniversary.
Shanghai Metro celebrated its 30th anniversary on Sunday.
The city's first Metro line, the 6.6-kilometer southern part of Line 1, which ran between Xujiahui and Jinjiang Park, began operations on May 28, 1993.
After 30 years development, the city's Metro system has expanded from five stops to 508 stops, from one line to 20 lines, with passenger capacity from 1.06 million per year to more than 13 million per day.
Meanwhile, the overall length of the city's Metro network, has increased to 831 kilometers, becoming the largest metro system among all the cities in the world, according to Shanghai's Metro operator, Shanghai Shentong Metro Group.
A 30-year anniversary ceremony was held at Shanghai Metro's Meilong Base on Laohumin Road in Xuhui District, where the first group of Metro trains stop.
Staff members take photos with the theme train marking the 30-year anniversary of Shanghai Metro.
At the base, one of the first batch trains stopped with special decoration to highlight the 30-year progress of the city's Metro system.
On the train, there is a small sign showing it was imported from Berlin, German.
"The train is still in use on Line 1," said a staffer with the Metro operator. "The number on its body, starting with '93' shows that it was enabled in 1993 and has been with us for 30 years."
The stamp on the train shows it was made in 1993.
Now, the city's Metro has different train types, such as underground, overhead as well as magnetic levitation trains, most of which were domestically developed and produced.
Over the past years, the Metro operator put in a lot of effort in increasing the passenger's experience when taking subways.
The operator implements many emergency measures such as adding more trains and extending operating hours during travel peak days, including the May Day holiday, National Day Holiday as well as the Spring Festival travel rush.
Nowadays, the passenger volume of Shanghai's Metro accounts for 73 percent of the city's whole public transportation networks.
The Metro has become the main public travel option for Shanghai residents.
Along with becoming longer, the Metro network is changing into a more comfortable, functional and intelligent system.
Shanghai Metro's Meilong Base in Xuhui District.
Longer: construction of east part of Line 13 kicked off
Construction of the east part of Metro Line 13 began on Sunday.
The 4.52-kilometer-long section includes two stops, connecting the eastern end of Zhangjiang Road and an integrated circuit design industrial park in Zhangjiang area.
After it is completed and put into operation, it will improve local public transport and contribute to attract more high-tech enterprises and talent to settle in the industrial park.
Shanghai is also gradually launching the new round of construction programs on the Metro network during the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), with the total length expanding 248 kilometer and adding more than 130 stops.
After the plan is completed, the city will form a Metro system with operating mileage topping 1,000 kilometers and the number of stops hitting 640, according to the operator.
Construction work starts on east Metro Line 13 at the site on Gaoke Road M.
Digital changes
Shanghai's Metro network has been experiencing digital transformation in recent years.
Since Line 10 introduced fully self-driving system (GOA4) in 2017, more lines, including Line 18, 15 as well as 14 were all equipped with GOA4
In early 2018, the launch of "Metro Daduhui" app marked that people in Shanghai were able to say goodbye to cards or purchase tickets, and began a new era of "swiping in" by phone.
From 2020 to 2022, because of COVID, the QR code for riding with the metro was integrated with the health condition code and PCR test results.
The city's official smart transport platform, Suishenxing, which is the first metropolitan platform with multiple functions, including public transportation, taxi hailing and smart parking, was also linked to the Metro service last year.
The metro network control system is equipped with a digital brain, which includes three digital platforms, the emergency direction system, the intelligent maintenance system as well as a digital command center on trains management.
Advanced technologies, such as big data, Cloud platform as well as Internet of Things are adopted in the three system to response to emergency situations, trains dispatch as well as trains maintenance.
A woman enters the Metro station by scanning the QR code on her phone.
Cultural space
Shanghai Metro is not only a way of commuting, it has also become a space where people can encounter cultural festivals.
Having hosted exhibitions "Metro Meets Prado" and "Salvador Dalí: Magic and Reality" over the past two years, Longhua Rd M Station on Metro lines 7 and 12 has been recognized as a new art space by the Shanghai Administration of Culture and Tourism.
On Friday, a three-month exhibition "Rossini Opera Festival in China: The Magic and Mystery of Gioachino Rossini" was unveiled there. Passengers can get to know about Gioachino Rossini, one of the most important composers in the history of Italian opera, his works and his hometown Pesaro via photos and videos.
The People's Square Metro Station, on lines 1, 2 and 8, has been staging mini concerts on its music corner for 10 years. In the past decade, it has hosted more than 700 performances, ranging from piano, orchestra to dance and chorus, by over 2,000 musicians and music amateurs, such as students from Qibao Dwight High School, who staged a jazz concert there earlier this month.
It has also witnessed international friendship between Shanghai and the rest of the world. In 2017, a children's dance troupe from Khabarovsk, Russia, performed traditional dances, and last year, a celebration with music, dance and poetry was held at the corner to celebrate the 170th anniversary of the first group of Chinese to arrive in Cuba.
Meanwhile, featuring more than 400 old photos, an exhibition at Longyang Road Station about Shanghai Metro's history opened to public on Sunday.
A concert is held at Longhua Rd M Station on Metro lines 7 and 12
Convenience stores, coffee shops as well as bakeries in the Metro stops
For many commuters, the metro stops are no longer a place only to get on trains, but also a place where they start every day with a sandwich and a cup of newly made coffee.
"Every morning, I catch a cup of coffee at the Metro station near my office," said a woman, Huang, who commutes by Line 12 every day.
"It is really convenient and lovely for commuters, like me, to have such a coffee shop right at the Metro station exit," she told Shanghai Daily.
In recent years, apart from widespread vending machines, thousands of shops, including convenience stores, coffees and bakeries have emerged.
These shops not only provide convenience for passengers, but also make Shanghai's Metro stations more pluralistic.
