January 23, 2001: Shanghai Maglev Transportation Development Co. ltd., Siemens and ThyssenKrupp AG sign a cooperative contract on building a maglev train line between urban Shanghai and Shanghai Pudong International Airport. The construction period lasted from March 2001 to September 2002.

The 31-km-long line was designed for a maximum speed of 430 km/h, but the top speed once reached 501 km/h.

December 29, 2003: The line began commercial operation, which was the first in China and in the world. By July 2004, over 1 million passengers had taken the maglev train.