Preparations for the 2010 World Expo have been keeping Shanghai working tirelessly now for over seven years. A gigantic project of the 20-million megacity is the extension of its metro system. ContiTech Railway Engineering, a segment of ContiTech’s air spring operations, is also involved in the project. That segment is the number one supplier worldwide for rail vehicle suspension concepts and has equipped almost all the lines of the new metro system with air springs.

The World Expo will open its doors in Shanghai on 1 May 2010. It is supposed to be the first ‘green’ expo in the history of the World Expo event. Shanghai has prepared itself for the steady stream of visitors with eleven lines and over 300km of tracks. Among other things, touch-screen terminals have been set up for passenger convenience when buying tickets. Other ambitious expansion plans have long been worked out: seven new lines are scheduled for construction within the next 15 years.

For years, Shanghai has been in the process of dramatically expanding its metro system. Nine of the eleven subway lines built so far have been equipped with air springs from ContiTech Railway Engineering – seven of them with ContiTech air spring systems, and two of them with systems marketed under the company’s Phoenix brand. “This makes us Shanghai Metro’s most important partner in the field of air springs,” says Friedrich Hoppmann, head of the ContiTech Railway Engineering segment.

ContiTech Railway Engineering supplied air spring systems for Singapore’s Metro as early as the mid-1980s, which were modified at the beginning of the 1990s in cooperation with Duewag. The air springs have been doing such a fine job on Asian soil that Shanghai Metro decided in favour of ContiTech as a supplier.

ContiTech has more than 50 years’ experience in the development and production of elastomer components. “We owe this success in Shanghai not only to the know-how gained over the decades. Our local presence also played a crucial role. We have been highly successful in implementing our strategic plan on the Asian market,” adds Hoppmann.