The first train of Shanghai Airport Link will start at 6am and passengers who arrive at the station an hour earlier will receive gifts in advance.

At 6am on December 27th, the first section of Shanghai Metro Airport Line (from Hongqiao Terminal 2 to Pudong Airport Terminal 1 and 2) was officially opened for operation, linking Shanghai Hongqiao and Pudong airports within 40 minutes.

At around 5:40am, reporters from The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) saw many passengers entering the station at Hongqiao Terminal 2.

The metro staff presented a mascot to rail transit enthusiast Yang Junjie. Chen, the station master at Hongqiao Terminal 2 of the Airport Line, told The Paper reporters, “Although the first train starts at 6am, Yang Junjie arrived before 5am and walked around the entire station. As a token of appreciation and for commemoration, we presented him with a small gift.”

Yang Junjie, a 22-year-old rail transit enthusiast, told reporters that he had taken the first train when Shanghai Metro Line 17 was newly opened. For this opening of the Airport Line, he specifically bought paper tickets and laminated them as they are “very commemorative”.

At about 5:50am, as the train entered the platform, many passengers took photos as a souvenir to record this moment. The first train departed on schedule at 6am.

On December 27th, the first section of Shanghai Metro Airport Line was officially opened for operation (from Hongqiao Terminal 2 to Pudong Airport Terminal 1 and 2). The picture shows the first train entering the platform.

Ms. Xiong and her husband Mr. Wang, passengers who live near Hongqiao Airport, needed to catch an international flight at Pudong Airport at 9am. “I wanted to leave early to have more time at the airport. I planned to let my husband drive me there, but I saw the news that the Airport Line would start operating today, so I chose to take the first train. It’s not convenient to drive back and forth, and my husband would encounter the morning rush if he dropped me off and then returned home. It’s better to take the Airport Line,” she said.

Inside the Airport Line, passengers took photos as souvenirs.

At about 6:39am, the first train of the Airport Line, which departed from Hongqiao Terminal 2, arrived at its destination – Pudong Airport Terminal 1 and 2. Many passengers were still taking photos as a souvenir.

The Shanghai Metro Airport Line is one of the first batch of 11 national demonstration lines determined by the National Development and Reform Commission. It is also the first newly built line in Shanghai’s urban rail transit network. The train has a design speed of 160 km/h, which can achieve a 40-minute fast connection between Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and Pudong International Airport, effectively reducing commuting and travel time between the two airports.

The initial operating mileage of the Airport Line is about 59 kilometers, with a total of seven stations, namely Hongqiao Terminal 2 Station, Zhongchun Road Station, Jinghong Road Station, Sanlin South Station, Kangqiao East Station, Shanghai International Tourism Resort Station, and Pudong Airport Terminal 1 and 2 Station.

The normal operating time of the initial operating line is from 06:00 to 22:39. The first train departs from both Hongqiao Terminal 2 Station and Pudong Airport Terminal 1 and 2 Station at 06:00, and the last train departs at 22:00.