Metro Line #2 Extends to Pudong Airport

By Jian Shuo Wang on 2010-04-07 19:34 · Pudong Airport

It finally becomes official - tomorrow, the Shanghai Metro Line #2 will extend to the Pudong Airport.

This blog started with a simple question - how to get to downtown from Pudong airport about 10 years ago (with a static page). Finally, the easiest answer is available: just take the Metro Line #2 from Pudong airport to downtown Shanghai. This will replace taxi, maglev, and bus as the recommended transportation.

2-Hour Trip

There are some problems though. It takes 1 hour and 52 minutes, and 8 RMB to complete the trip. There are 30 stations of Metro Line #2 with total length of 60 km. That implies 30km/h speed.

Transition still needed

Passengers need to get off the train at Guanglan Road Station 广兰路 and wait at the same platform to another train to downtown Shanghai. The reason is, the newly added stations don’t have too many traffic. They use 4-cart train to operate on this segment, and the rest line uses 8-cart train. So get ready to transit after 40 minutes.

Time Table

The current time table for the section between Guanglan Road and Pudong Airport is from 9:00 AM to 16:00 PM, with 13 minutes interval. It is expected to get to full time operatoin soon.

In a Hurry?

If you are in a hurry, the best way to transfer between the two stations are still taxi. It takes one hour and about 150 RMB to get you there. Since the two airport is connected by S20 expressway, the traffic is relatively stable.

Metro Line #1 and #9 Transition

Another related news is, the transition tunnel from Line #1 to Line #9 is opened today. The designer leveraged the Grand Gateway garage as the transition tunnel. I have not used it yet, but I got a message from Ryun this morning: “Explored the new maze between #9 and #1, and got lost”.

18 Comments

Heyy JSW i'm back! Just wanna add a lil bit more on this metro thing. I would say if you have big and heavy luggage, don't even bother to take line 2 to Pudong. The volume that line 2 carry each day is just incredible.

At the end of last year when line 9 finally opened up to the public, I had a 20kg suitcase with me plus one laptop bag and a school bag. I had to go thru a luggage check in Madang Road station, carry my heavy suitcase up thru the escalator in Century Ave Station (there is no elevator on Line 9's Century Ave Station platform) , and then hand-carried down thru the stairs into Line 2 platform (there is no escalator going downward, dunno if there is a escalator). And then when i got out from Longyang road station, again i have to carry my stuff up the escalator to Maglev station, and then another luggage check...

So unless you come to SH for a business trip or something, I rec. everyone to take taxi.

I'm still glad that this eastern extension is finally completely. Now I can go to the airport and meet up with my friends (or say goodbye to them) with very low cost.

Hopefully in near future they can connect Hongqiao and Pudong by Maglev.

— j · 2010-04-07 22:21

Hi,

may I ask, how long to go from PVG to Shi Ji Da Dao station (where it crosses with line 6). Is it faster to take maglev and transfer to line 2 at Longyang Lu?

— Greg · 2010-04-08 03:09

It may take about 60 minutes. I didn't go there myself, but this is how I calculate it. According to report, it takes 40 minutes to arrive from Pudong Airport to Guanglan Road. From Guanglan Road to Century Ave (Shi Ji Da Dao) station, there are 6 stations - 2 minutes per station => 12 minutes. Considering the time of transit at Guanglan Road (waiting for the coming train), it may be another 4 minutes. One hour is my guess.

If you are in hurry, I suggest you to take Maglev. It is a short cut from Pudong Airport to Longyang Road Station (two stations west of Guanglan Road). It takes 8 minutes, v.s. 50 minutes of Metro Line #2.

Good luck!

— Jian Shuo Wang · 2010-04-08 10:19

Based on the information Jian Shou and Greg provided. Metro Line 2 originating from Pudong International Airport has many drawbacks: 1) The short operating hours from 9AM to 4PM is like office hours. Passengers arriving after 3:30PM will not be able to catch the last train. 2) Passengers having more than two pieces of luggage will almost be impossible to transport down the long stairways in the subway stations, let alone going thorugh many checkpoints. 3) Too time consuming - If it's going to take 1 hour to reach Pudong's Century Blvd Station, going further west to say People's Sq. will add at least another 20 minutes. Despite of the drawbacks, being able to take the subway from Pudong Airport to Hongqiao Airport for a meager 8 RMB does provide a dirt cheap means of transportation。For someone who don't have much luggage, have the time to kill and want to save money can take Metroline to go to the city. I would assume most business people will not want to do so though. Hopefully, if enough people complain about the inconvenience of lugging the heavy suitcases up and down the stairways could prompt the city to install elevators going up and down the platforms. I think most passengers would rathr pay a lot more money if it's faster and convenient like the Airport Express trains in HK. Its cars are equipped with luggage racks upon entering the cars. And there are elevators in every stations.

— TW · 2010-04-08 16:51

@TW, that is where maglev take a role, at least the hope - if the maglev does go all the way to Hongqiao airport, that will make the trip something less than 20 minutes to complete.

— Jian Shuo Wang · 2010-04-08 20:25

JS,

Forgive me for my ignorance, but is this plan to extend the maglev to Hongqiao Airport in the pipeline? If so, when will that take place? Yes, it would make a lot of sense to not only connect the two airports, more so it would save people so much time to get around in Great Shanghai if the Meglev can go through Shanghai more or less following Metro #2's route. One area China has made giant leaps is its infrastructure building.

— TW · 2010-04-08 21:20

It has been approved by the central government (which is the most important step of any giant project in China), but there is no plan about the construction.

— Jian Shuo Wang · 2010-04-08 22:15

Thanks for the information. Seems like maglev + metro is the way to go. Plus the maglev is more exciting for a visitor.

— Greg · 2010-04-09 00:43

You can use this website to calculate the time the metro takes.

http://www.exploreshanghai.com/metro/

— Anna · 2010-04-09 11:47

Is it possible to add elevators at the line 2 stations?

— Richard · 2010-04-09 20:19

@Richard, obviously it is possible to do anything, but the question is, how the feedback from the mass users of the metro can get back to the people in charge, and then to the constructor.

— Jian Shuo Wang · 2010-04-09 21:04

Anna, thanks for the tip. I'll check it out.

I find that Wang Jian Shuo's site has the most recent information about Shanghai, more so than even some official sites!

— Greg · 2010-04-10 01:15

Thanks, @Greg. No official site update daily. :-)

— Jian Shuo Wang · 2010-04-10 02:49

Line 2 is incredible as in it links two airports with two railway stations. (Yes, Line 2 will, in the future, end at Pudong Railway Station, and now that Nanhui District has been merged with Pudong New Area, that's likely.) AND it goes via the incredibly busy Zhongshan Park, People's Square and Century Avenue 3-/4-line interchanges.

Shanghai has pulled off a spectacular feat with this, but this will only add to the flow of people. Not just from People's Square.

— David Feng · 2010-04-11 22:11

COMMENT and QUESTION:

"2) Passengers having more than two pieces of luggage will almost be impossible to transport down the long stairways in the subway stations, let alone going through many checkpoints."

Since airlines are now charging for half the weight of luggage as they used to, I am shipping my heavy stuff to where I move. That way, I only need to carry one piece of luggage. I get a tracking number, save my back, and spend very little if anything more than the cost airlines have charged me for my luggage weight. By charging us at the airline, they are discouraging us from flying long distances. Their loss, I won't fly as often then and deal with other people to move my stuff.

Now for the questions.

I am looking online and I see a lot of posts for coming to Shanghai from the airport, but nothing on Shanghai to the airport besides taking Line 2 to Long Yang Rd station, and then taking the Maglev to the airport.

If I took the Maglev, is it at the same station, do I have to walk somewhere? If so, how far? I need to time this so I don't miss my flight. Coming to Shanghai is different, there are no time constraints.

I saw online they opened Line 2 from the airport to Guanglan Road Station 广兰路

http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20100407_metro_line_2_extends_to_pudong_airport.htm

I don't see Guanglan Road Station on the subway map, only Zhang Jiang High Technology Park, Long Yang Rd, Century Park, Science and Tech, etc...

But no Guanglan Road Station. Where is it? Do I have to get off there as well in order to take the subway to the airport (if possible)?

— Marcus · 2010-05-08 14:36

very beautiful

— evden eve · 2010-09-21 04:31

Hi there.

I'm flying to PVG arriving on November 7th. Then I have to go to Nanning and I see that there's not direct flight from PVG to NNG.

I have two options, flying from PVG connecting in some airports or going to Hongquiao and take a direct flight to NNG.

What is your suggestion. Also flights from SHA are less expensive than from PVG.

Thanks for your help.

Ignasi

— Ignasi · 2010-10-06 10:00

Hi,

I am planning my first trip to Shanghai. The plan was to take the Maglev to the Longyang Road Station then the Metro Line 2 to the East Nanjing Road Station. Is this still the best route for 5 travellers with a small amount of luggage. We are only in Shanghai for 48 hours and don't want to spend any more time getting from point "A" to Point "B" than necessary.

Great blog by the way! I read several pages and learned a lot!

Thanks,

Martin

— Martin · 2011-11-06 02:21