Professor Sun Zhang said on May 27 to Shanghai Daily that the Shanghai Metro may use a CRH6 bullet train for its Line 19, which will cut travel time by 45 minutes from Pudong to Chongming Island.
Professor Sun, who teaches at the Institute of Rail Transit in Tongji University, is part the research team looking after the development of Line 19 of Shanghai Metro. He said that the group is initially proposing a CRH6 bullet train to run the upcoming subway route.
The Line 19 of Shanghai Metro will have a travel time of about 45 minutes from Pudong to Chongming Island. Residents and visitors of Changxing Island and Hengsha Island will also have access to the proposed CRH6 bullet trains.
The need for speed is apparent as travel time from downtown Shanghai to Chongming Island is usually 90 minutes by private vehicle. Motorists may opt to take the CRH6 bullet trains and leave behind their vehicles to cut travel time by almost half an hour.
For those who travel by bus, they normally spend more than 2 hours on the road. Once completed, many may try taking Line 19 as the CRH6 bullet trains will be an answer in cutting travel time by, at least, 1.5 hours.
Professor Sun said that Line 19 of Shanghai Metro will either pass the Shanghai Yangtze River Bridge or the Shanghai Yangtze River Tunnel or both these structures. In this case, he said, CRH6 bullet trains are the right choice.
"Ordinary subway trains need traction substations every 2.5 kilometers, which is impossible for Line 19 since it will include either a long bridge or tunnel across the Yangtze River," he said.
Targeted to be completed five years from now, the Line 19 of Shanghai Metro is part of its master plan for 2010-2020.
A lecturer at South China University of Technology, Jinghuan He said in an academic paper that the Shanghai Municipal Government "promoted infrastructure development, especially public transport, in order to strengthen the connection between the city center and new cities" as part of the implementation of its master plan for 2001-2020.
Jinghuan wrote the paper for the 26th Annual Congress of the Association of European Schools of Planning (AESOP) held on July 11-15, 2012, in Ankara, Turkey.
In their May 2012 paper, "Development of Shanghai Integrated Transport (2010-2015)," Xiao Hui and Gu Yui said that they are positive that Shanghai will create "a modern international metropolis with a world-class modern integrated transportation system."
At the time of their writing, Xiao is the deputy director of the Comprehensive Planning Division, Shanghai Urban Construction and Transportation Commission. Gu is the deputy director of the Transport Planning Department.
The Line 19 of Shanghai Metro, with its possible use of CRH6 bullet trains, will add to the improvement of the transport landscape in Shanghai by significantly cutting travel time.