We know it's the world's fastest train, but why the fuss about the maglev?

FYI: We know it's the world's fastest train, but why the fuss about the maglev?

It is fitting that the wealthiest city in the world's most rapidly expanding economy should have the fastest train, the 430km/h maglev express that thunders from Shanghai airport to the urban fringe of

the city. Riding the maglev - short for the magnetic levitation that allows it to whiz along at such frighteningly fast speeds - is one of the most thrilling experiences of a visit to Shanghai.

The express takes just eight minutes to make the journey from the city's Pudong airport to Longyang station, quickly hitting top speed as it whooshes past paddy fields, housing estates and factories. One writer for Britain's The Sunday Times claimed turbulence from the train blew off the straw hats of workers in paddy fields: a vivid, but not quite true, observation.

These farmers and other Chinese taxpayers could be forgiven for wondering why Shanghai poured vast sums into building a single-line route from the airport to ... an outer suburb. Anyone heading to downtown Shanghai, the area behind the famous Bund promenade, faces another half-hour journey, at least, by taxi or subway; a trip that involves crossing the Huangpu River. Even visitors to Lujiazui, the skyscraper-bedecked financial district that is relatively close to the maglev terminal, have to complete their journey by cab.

How Shanghai ended up with a train to nowhere, albeit the world's niftiest, is an intriguing topic with, of course, no official answers. One popular theory is that the US$1.2 billion budget simply ran out and officials were wary of committing more public money. During the construction and glitch-dogged trials, earlier talk of building a maglev line between Shanghai and Beijing became muted; it was fanciful conjecture that had not fully addressed the issue of how the system would be adapted to negotiate tunnels and bridges over rivers, let alone how many more billions it would cost.