Shanghai Metro just hit another milestone. According to a report by Shine, a brand-new Line 2 train made its appearance on the morning of July 19, with which came the city’s 5000th metro carriage.
A ceremony was held at Beidi Lu parking space yesterday morning to celebrate the occasion, where officials of Shanghai Metro took the opportunity to introduce the latest updates on the trains.
Images via Shine and The Paper
According to one of the officials named Chen Chao, safety is one of the major concerns when it comes to designing these new trains. "By employing aluminum alloy as the primary building material, both intensity and fireproof-ness are elevated to another level," Chen told The Paper. "Besides, every train is equipped with 'black box' technology, a recording device which can help engineers detect and eliminate the failure of the operation in time."
The new carriages are more user-friendly, too. Multiple LED screens are added to each carriage to broadcast transportations news, and noises will be reduced thanks to the latest technology. The most surprising feature would be the inclusion of USB ports, which will come in handy when you desperately need to charge the phone.
Images via The Paper and Eastday
It is suggested that the inclusion of more carriages on Line 2 (aka Shanghai's busiest metro line) will improve commute experience for passengers. This confirms Shanghai Metro's continuous endeavor to increase passenger capacity, as the number of operating carriages escalated from 1,000 in 2007 to 5,000 to date.
And it doesn't stop there. "We plan to launch 6,000 carriages in 2019, and 7,000 in 2020." Chen told Shine. He also claimed that new carriages will be installed on more metro lines through the rest of the year.
We will follow up in due course.
[Top image via Shine]
