Shanghai A to B

Or at least it looks like that’s the case. The new part of Line 8 (Yaohua Road — Chengshan Road — Aerospace Museum) has an interesting — and at that — dangerous new sight to behold: platform screen doors that don’t work the way they’re supposed to work.

Reports from fellow passengers, including folks on the Shanghai MetroFans Club, pour in telling horror stories of screen doors that simply don’t work. Hard hit are two stops — Jiangyue Road (above-ground) and Jiangpu Road (underground). (The situation is worse at Jiangyue Road than at Jiangpu Road, which is actually a Phase I (late 2007) station.)

To make the whole case look even worse, staff went from being responsible to being negligent. Initial reports tell of station personnel keeping an eye on the fault door; however, as the number of screen doors out of action grew, the doors grew to become a mere tourist attraction instead of doing something useful.

Shanghai has it better than Beijing, where right underneath the platform lies the third rail (750V! Don’t play around with that thing!). Still, those doors are here for a purpose. It could be that Phase II of Line 8 could have been a rushed project, all in the name of Shanghai World Expo next year (2010). Whatever the reasons may be, we sure hope that they’re fixed as soon as possible. And if you’re headed that way in Shanghai, let’s not get too close to the doors…

Jiyang Road is likely to open in late 2009 — but those of us travelling on Line 8 wish it opened earlier. The station seems to be fully open with the lights on, but there’s something about Jiyang that makes it a world away from providing direct, in-station transfers with Line 6.

The official excuse is that Jiyang Road is located in Shanghai’s version of the Middle of Nowhere. No roads, no streets, no nothing comes close to Jiyang Road — and that bit’s clear if you take a look at it from a map: just northwest of a crossing.

When Jiyang Road opens later this year, it’ll provide a direct link with Line 6, and will also have an interchange reserved with Line 11. The station will have three floors underground: a concourse, the Line 8 island platforms and two island platforms further below, which will be shared between Line 6 and the future extension to Line 11. This will also feature the sole cross-platform interchange in the basic Shanghai Metro network (Lines 1 through 13).

In the meantime, the Line 6 part from South Lingyan Road to Jiyang Road has been built — but is not carrying anyone at the moment. Let’s just hope that it opens for good at the end of this year as well. By the way, be prepared for an odd scenario at Jiyang: yes interchange, no exit…