Type Rapid transit Opened December 29, 2007 Locale Shanghai | System Shanghai Metro Character Rapid transit Stations 30 | |
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Status Extension to South Pujin Road under construction. Daily ridership 1.11 million (2017 peak) Operator(s) Shanghai No.4 Metro Operation Co. Ltd. Electrification Overhead line (1500 volts) Terminis Shendu Highway Station, Shiguang Road Station | ||
Line 8 is a north-south line of the Shanghai Metro network. It runs from Shiguang Road Station, in Yangpu District to Shendu Highway Station, in Minhang.The line is colored blue on system maps.
Contents
Service routes
Important stations
History
The subway line's first phase, which opened on December 29, 2007, runs between Shiguang Road Station and Yaohua Road Station, excluding Zhoujiadu Station. Trial operation began for the first phase of this line on September 16. The second phase, from Yaohua Road Station to Shendu Highway Station, excluding Oriental Sports Center Station, began its trial runs on July 5, 2009. Oriental Sports Center Station opened in April 2011. The third phase will extend Line 8 south from Shendu Highway Station to South Pujin Road and will be 6.2 km long. It will use rubber tire Bombardier Innova APM 300 technology. On January 13 Bombardier delivered the first out of 44 autonomous people movers to Shanghai.
Even though Line 8 is a heavy rail rapid transit line, "C size" trains used for light metro lines consisting of 6 or 7 cars are being used throughout the line with platforms built to accommodate up to 8 car trains. Due to the trains relatively small size and capacity compared to "A size" trains used on other Shanghai Metro lines the line is extremely crowded. This has caused much doubt among the public in the Shanghai Metro's ability to accurately predict passenger flows for future lines. It was revealed that line 8 originally was forecasted to have a short term daily ridership of 400,000-500,000 people/day, which warrants the use of "A size" trains. This is not surprising given Line 8 is planned to pass by some of Shanghai's densest neighborhoods and several major attractions. However the forecast was downgraded to 200,000 people/day which allowed Shanghai Alstom, a company interested in manufacturing and selling "C size" trains in Shanghai, to build trains for line 8. There are no short term solutions to the overcrowding. The loading gauges of "A size" trains are incompatible with "C size" trains but parallel relief bus services have started operating.