May Holiday Special: Transportation links

In light of this week's national holiday, here are some transportation stories for your enjoyment:

• Shanghai to host 4.4 million tourists during the May Day holidays: That is five percent more than last year. Yay. Avoid People's Square and other hot spots these week.
• China May Day spells nightmare: This AP story claims that the Chinese government is looking to develop "a new system of staggered holidays" to ease the burden on the nation's transportation systems.
• Metro Line 2 to become a bit faster: Quickly becoming as crowded as Line 1, shorter intervals between trains are expected to ease growing pressure on the line.
• Metro Line 4 to be completed by the end of the year: Metro Line 4 will complete its circle within the year. Due to a cave-in last June when workers were finished work on a branch tunnel to be used in emergencies, the completion of the circle's southern section was unexpectedly delayed.
• More transportation options in Pudong: 115 bus routes will have stops along Metro Line 6 in Pudong when construction of the line is completed later this year. Metro Line 6 is the only Metro line with all its 28 stations in Pudong. (It's the pink line towards the right side of this map from blogger Wang Jianshuo.)
• Shanghai opens air link to Africa: Looking for an African flavor in your vacation this week? China Eastern Airlines opened Shanghai's first flight to Africa over the weekend. An Airbus 340-300 aircraft completed its maiden flight to Johannesburg, South Africa on Saturday.
• Airports restrict amount of liquids allowed on flights: Check your fluids before you board your next flight. Starting May 1, airline passengers departing from Shanghai on international and regional flights cannot have more than one liter of liquid in their carry-on luggage.
• The end of Maglev technology in China?: The national authorities will rely on high-tech rail lines rather than maglev technology to improve the country's rail transport capacity, a senior railway official said over the weekend. Another interesting note, since the approval of the Shanghai-Hangzhou Maglev link, there have been no further developments.

Photo from wammie.