Shanghai born and bred – Liang Xu is modernizing mobility in his home city People behind the story
Great cities are shaped by the people who help keep them moving. In our industry, that means facing unique challenges – and seeing things most people never will. Here we’re talking to Liang Xu about urban evolution and modern metros in the city of Shanghai.
With more than three decades of industry experience, Liang brings a rare combination of local knowledge and technical expertise. Having witnessed Shanghai’s transformation firsthand, he understands both the challenges and opportunities that come with supporting a rapidly growing city. His experience offers a unique perspective on the role mobility plays in shaping urban life.
When did you join Schindler?
After graduating from technical school. Back in the 1980s, Schindler was one of only four Sino-foreign joint ventures. As a young technician, I was given a position of responsibility and, at the same time, the chance to work on a lot of different projects. I’ve stayed with Schindler ever since, always in Shanghai. It’s been over 35 years now.
How has Shanghai changed as a city during that time?
A lot. When people think of Shanghai now, they usually picture the view across the river from the Bund, Shanghai’s prominent waterfront promenade, and think of a city full of densely packed skyscrapers. But when I was growing up, there were no high-rise buildings in Pudong (Shanghai’s financial district). I was born in the 1970s, so I’ve experienced the era of reform and opening up.
The city has transformed into a globally important financial metropolis."
How would you describe the cooperation with Shanghai Metro?
When I started at Schindler, the city didn’t have a metro system. But since then, it’s grown to cover every corner of Shanghai. We’ve worked with the Shanghai Metro since 1999, and we’ve always had a good partnership with them. I think this is one of the reasons we were chosen for the major overhauls of the escalators in the stations along Line 3 and Line 6.
What is the biggest challenge your team faces now? And how do you deal with it?
The biggest pressure comes from on-site execution. Shanghai Metro is a major public transportation system. Many people rely on it, so we have to make sure that escalators keep working. We always have technicians ready to deal with any maintenance required.
Remote monitoring has greatly helped our work. Previously, diagnosing issues required staff to go on-site and check error logs or use multimeters to test switches. Now, our staff receive notifications and can often identify the problem before arriving on-site.
We also receive “minor issue” alerts for things that haven’t caused a shut down but could potentially become a problem. This allows us to perform preventive maintenance, much like regular health check-ups. This approach benefits all our equipment and helps frontline staff address issues more effectively.
Remote monitoring means we know what is going on even before we get to a unit."
One evening we detected a potential issue at a station, which could have had a significant impact if the escalator had stopped. We immediately contacted the factory and had the replacement part delivered overnight. The escalator was back in full operation by 5:30 a.m. the next day.
This teamwork between our on-site staff and our factory workers minimized the impact on customers and on hundreds of thousands of people using the metro every day.
What continues to motivate you?
When I look at Shanghai today, it's hard to believe how much it's changed during my career. I'm proud to have played a part in that journey. Every day, our work helps millions of people get where they need to go safely and reliably, and that's something that still motivates me after all these years.