Operating times on Shanghai's maglev line have been extended 45 minutes a day to let more travelers get to and from Pudong International Airport on the train, Shanghai Morning Post reported today.

Trains will now run from 6:45 am until 9:30 pm every day. They previously operated from 7 am to 9 pm.

More than 80 percent of maglev passengers are travelers going to and from the airport rather than people just experiencing the train.

The maglev carried about 40,000 people in the first three days this month, 30 percent more than in the same time last year, the report quoted the city's traffic department as saying.

The maglev reaches a maximum speed of 431 kilometers an hour on the 30 kilometers between the Pudong airport and the Longyang Road Metro Station. The city plans to extend the line to Hongqiao International Airport according to a previous report.

(Shanghai Daily January 4, 2008)