Today is a public holiday (since last year) to mark Mid-Autumn festival. So, no interviews etc are possible. Inspired by Monika and Zlatan’s work at St. Pancras and on the Edgware Road, I decided to go down to the Shanghai South Railway Station and observe passenger behaviour. I was planning to spend a few hours down there. But after an hour, I decided that was enough. First, there was quite a crush. Second, operating by myself, there was only so much I could do before my attention started to flag. And, third, as a custom-designed space, for the most part it seemed to me that things were well-designed. I did not take a camera, as I think we have already photographed everything I was looking at.

Overall, I would say it is absolutely clear that the priority in this station is getting people through it smoothly. The station is part of a nationally-owned network, not a private-public mix or anything like that. Its priority is transport, and that’s all.

11.50 a.m. I arrive on line 1 of the subway system. The subway station is absolutely overrun with people (even worse than I’ve ever seen before). Presumably this is because it’s a holiday, and for some people if they can get away today, they can stay away for a while. Once I get through the subway station and come out into the lower level of the railway station itself, I think about taking up a position to observe. But there’s not really anywhere to get a vantage point, and there are crowds milling about in various directions. To their credit, it hasn’t quite reached the pushing and shoving stage. There is a large screen on the wall near the exit, giving details of arriving trains for those who have come to meet people. This is the northwest exit. I do see people standing and looking to check which trains have come in, and then moving towards the exit. Apart from individuals putting kids down, stopping to talk to their family members or whatever, I don’t see anyone else stopping here or looking at any other screens (e.g. the TV screens with entertainment and commercials hanging from the ceiling). Realizing this is a space to get through, I join the crowds on the escalator up to the 2^nd floor level where you enter to get to your train.

12 noon. Coming off the escalator, I move towards the area where the security check is, which is also opposite the street entrance for people arriving by car. This means I am positioned looking at a large LED information board in front of me. The entrance in front of me and to the left is the North-West entrance, between pillars 17 and 18, which is very familiar to me already. It has two security checkpoints, but when I arrive only the one on the left is open. For people arriving by car, the screen is to their right as they walk in. But for people coming up off the 2 escalators — and they are the majority — it is right in front of them, and it remains in front of them as they go into that security line. For them, there is also a sign (non-LED) on the left as they come off the escalator telling them where some waiting rooms are, and another similar one is right in front of them as they come off the escalator. There’s a flight of stairs, too, but I did not notice many people using that. I noticed that someone had written “WC?” in black marker on the sign to the left when you come up off the escalator. I guess he had an urgent need, but I also see his point!

Turning back to observe people coming up off the escalators I count 30 coming up one of the 2 escalators in 1 minute. That means 60 a minute, or 3,600 an hour, plus whoever arrives by road, or in an elevator, or up the stairs — perhaps 4,000 an hour or 4,500. 3 out of 4 entrances are open, so this would mean they are serving between 12,000 and 14,000 departing people every hour (and presumably a similar number of arrivals), not counting those who are just using the subway station. So, they must be easily processing a quarter of a million people every day. No wonder they are not trying to slow them down or get them diverted into shops.

Everyone coming up off the escalator takes a look at the big LED screen. It’s right in their line of vision, and it’s the brightest thing around.

12.10 p.m. I move over to the other side, so that I can observe the people in line better. My position is not quite directly under the screen, but close. People in line are primarily concerned with getting ready for going through security itself. But they also do glance up and down at the big screen. Once they get through security, all the information is repeated (although, as we noted before, not in the same order) on another screen, which is right in front of them. They all look at this, then decide where to go. These screens tell them where to wait for which train, basically. What I would find a bit challenging is that the trains are only identified by numbers and not by destinations.

12.15 p.m. They open the right security line, because the numbers are getting bigger. People look at the screen just before they turn into the right security line, after which the screen is behind them. This line is closed again after 5 minutes, when the immediate crush is over. Since the flow from the escalators leads naturally to the left line, it becomes easy to judge when to close the right line again, i.e. when no people are walking over to take it.

12.25 p.m. I go through security and walk over to a point below pillar18 from which I can see the various waiting areas that go off the central aisle once you get through the ticket check and walk down the ramp. Most people go straight down, but some wait in the same area where I am and where the shops and restaurants are. I think these are people who are too early to be let down into the waiting areas already. The seats in the waiting areas are in rows. The TV screens are at the aisle end, perpendicular to the rows of seats, and the LED screen with more details about the train and telling you when to board is at the other end, where the doors to the corridor down to the platform open. Neither screen is in your line of vision. Nobody watches the TV screens, although some glance at it (and at the info screen) occasionally. This confirms my suspicion that the main function of these TV screens is to tell you it’s OK to wait here. A lot of the people who are not talking to their fellow travellers are busy with various mobile screen-based personal devices (phones, MP3 players, game players etc).

12.30 p.m. Move left to a position below pillar 1 where I can observe the central aisle. People are funnelled down to this via two ramps from where they get their tickets checked after going through security at the Northeast and Northwest entrances. In other words, I am at the North end of the station now, looking South. There is a steady of flow of people down the ramps (I count 109 over 4 minutes coming down one ramp). Once they get to the turn onto the central aisle, the brightest thing is the row of flag-like LEDs at the top of the towers marking off the different waiting areas to the left and to the right. Most look straight up at these to locate their waiting areas, and depending on whether their seat is in a carriage to the left or right, go to wait. This means the train and the platform are below, running East to West. The “flags” are marked with the waiting area numbers, too, although these are not lit up. It’s all very clear, there doesn’t seem to be any wandering around lost, and the flow is smooth and steady. There is a place you can go to here to get a snack, and also there are toilets and so on.

12.40 p.m. I walk past the Northeast check-in area round to pillar 5, where I sit on a ledge around its base, looking at the “soft seat” lounge, i.e. first class. Inside there, the rows of seats are once again arranged perpendicular to the TV screens and information screens, and there are also TV screens above the seats. People look right or left occasionally, but nobody stares at these screens. Again, lots of people are busy with their personal screen-based devices. No one looks at the screens above.

12.55 p.m. The “soft seat” ticket-check ramp opens, and a huge crush of people pours out of the East soft seat lounge and down the ramp, too many to count. They are in a hurry to get on the train, joining the crowd coming out of the regular waiting area.

At this point, I decide I’ve had enough and can go. I guess that Shanghai South does not have the charm of St Pancras. But in a way it’s easier to use. You don’t have to crane your neck or negotiate endless “retail opportunities” to find your way around. On the other hand, it’s not a destination in its own right, and I don’t think it is meant to be or ever will be. It’s very efficient as a space to move through.

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