Lingang DRT

The Lingang Medium Transport Volume (), also known as Lingang Digital-rail Rapid Transit (Lingang DRT), is a rapid transit system operating within Lingang in Pudong District, Shanghai, China. It started operations on 30 June 2021, and is operated by the Shanghai Lingang Public Transport Company (, abbreviated in Chinese as 临港公交). The system operates as an autonomous rail rapid transit (ART) system, but conventional bus rapid transit-specification buses currently run on the system too.

The Lingang DRT utilizes the intelligent digital rail transportation system (iDRT) developed by Shanghai Electric Group Intelligent Transportation Technology Co,Ltd , which uses magnetic markers encoded with digital information as virtual tracks and rubber-tired electric vehicles as vehicle carriers. It adopts the operation and control method of modern tramways, and has the advantages of orbitalization, digitalization and intelligentization.

Lines

The Lingang DRT consists of the following lines, all of which charge a flat fare of 2RMB:

* Line 1 (), which runs between Dishui Lake station and Hongyin Plaza. It started operations on 30 June 2021.
* Line 2 (), which runs in a loop originating from Dishui Lake station, via Lingang Avenue station, Shengang Avenue and Meirenjiao Road before returning to Dishui Lake. It started operations on 28 November 2022.
* Line 3 (), which was originally known as T6, runs between Feidu Road station along the route of Line 1 and Caoxuan Road in Fengxian District. It started operations on 5 July 2023.

History

Plans for a rapid transit system went as far back as 2012, when Sun Jianping, then-chairman of the Shanghai Municipal Transport Commission, announced plans to construct multiple modes of rapid transit systems, including Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and trams in a number of regions, including Shanghai Corniche, Songjiang, Lingang and Hongqiao Business District. A tram system within Lingang was initially announced in 2013, however there were no announcements following that.

In 2016, initial plans to build a medium capacity transit system in Lingang was announced, with the ability to be converted to a large capacity system. This was followed by an announcement that the system will have five lines, all of which are able to connect with Metro Line 16, totalling in May 2018, after which the number of lines was increased to six with a length of in April 2020.

In July 2020, the possibility of a digital rail-guided rapid transit system was raised, and this was implemented shortly afterwards. Construction for the first line, Line 1, started in August, with plans to use electricity-powered cars with the possibility of changing to hydrogen-powered ones later. Line 1 began test operations on 1 January 2021, with Vice Secretary-General of Shanghai Municipal Government and Vice Director of Lingang Special Area Zhu Zhisong announcing the official departure of the first test run. Line 1 eventually opened to the public on 30 June 2021.

Construction for the second line, Line 2, commenced in late 2021. Originally scheduled to start operations in the first half of 2022, the opening date was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Testing for Line 2 began in August 2022, and the line commenced operations on 28 November 2022. The vehicles used on Line 1 are powered by hydrogen, the first such line to do so. Line 2 initially ran between Dishui Lake Metro station and Shuihua Road.

On 1 April 2023, operations were transferred from Lingang Rapid Transit () to Lingang Public Transport (). Both companies are subsidiaries of Lingang Investment Holdings Group.

The routes of both lines 1 and 2 were amended on 1 July 2023. Under this amendment, Line 1 stops at additional stops, while Line 2 is now running as a loop with the terminus located at Dishui Lake station. On the same day, Sunwin iEV12 electric buses of BRT specifications entered service. These buses have doors on both sides to cater to normal roadside bus stops and stops built for the system at the middle of the road.

Line 3, which was originally named line 6, began operations on 5 July 2023.

Stations

The following is a list of stations along each route of the system:

Line 1

Line 2

Line 3

Fleet

Prior to their amendments on 1 July 2023, line 1 used electric Autonomous Rail Rapid Transit vehicles, bearing a modified version of the livery used on regular Lingang Public Transport buses, while line 2 used a hydrogen-powered vehicle with a brown livery. These vehicles are built by CRRC Nanjing Puzhen, and have three carriages with each carriage having one door on each side, totalling three doors per side. Each car has a length of 30 meters, and are capable of carrying 300 passengers, which is around the capacity of three to four regular public buses.

However, since the aforementioned date, both lines 1 and 2 have begun using Sunwin iEV12 (exact model designation: SWB6129BEV95G) buses as their fleet. These buses have doors on both sides.

Line 3 uses vehicles that are similar in specifications to line 2, but with a green livery instead of brown.

Reception

The system has been noted by Shanghai media ''Wenhui Bao'' as one of the successes for the exportation of the DRT technology to foreign countries. In April 2023, CRRC Nanjing Puzhen began to produce DRT vehicles for line 5 of the Metrorrey system in Monterrey, Mexico. The vehicles were unveiled on 29 October that year, and began a one year trial in Monterrey.

A report by Shanghai Observer in May 2023 found that vehicles on line 1 were "unusually bumpy" and slow. According to an interviewee, a trip from the town of Nicheng to Dishui Lake, which would normally take 20 minutes by car and 40 minutes by bus, instead took over one hour by taking line 1. In addition, the arrival timing display was found to be extremely inaccurate. The system has also been plagued by low ridership, with only 70 people taking one trip of line 1 at its peak, and the remaining trips averaging at less than 30 passengers. Several car lanes were converted so that they were restricted to the system only; this change of use worsened traffic around the region.

During a visit to Shanghai in October 2023, Hong Kong politician Ngan Man-yu visited the Lingang DRT system. He noted that with a high capacity of 300 people, the ability to navigate mountainous terrains and remain unaffected by adverse weather conditions, a DRT system could be suitable for use on the future East Kowloon line.

References

{{Transport in Shanghai, state=collapsed

Bus rapid transit in China
Guided bus
Transport in Shanghai
2021 establishments in China