All Clear at Shanghai Station

The roof of the Shanghai South Railway Station represents the largest single order of Lexan sheet ever received by GE-Plastics.

Passengers in the new massive Shanghai South Railway Station don’t have to wonder if it’s overcast. They’re able to see for themselves through the largest round roof of its kind in the world. The roof was constructed using tough Lexan polycarbonate sheet and represents one of the largest single orders of Lexan sheet ever received by GE-Plastics, a global supplier of plastic resins.

Much of the roof covers the upper departure area of the station, which is around 300 meters in diameter and capable of holding up to 10,000 people. Put another way, more than 10 football fields could fit under the roof, which includes nearly 290 tons of the Lexan sheet. It’s a special multiwall sheet, 30 mm thick, in a three-wall configuration with integrated upstanding side wings for water resistance.

The custom-designed sheet was manufactured using procedures developed specifically for the railway station, which officially opens this month. “Lexan sheet’s virtually unmatched impact and weathering resistance, plus its clarity and outstanding dimensional stability, made it the top choice of both the architects and the Chinese authorities involved in this project,” said Frans van de Noort, Asia/Pacific general manager for GE-Plastics, Specialty Film & Sheet.

With its sweeps of Lexan sheet, the station’s design is meant to glow with both daytime light and nighttime lamplight, symbolizing Shanghai’s emerging global economic, financial and cultural leadership. The station serves rail, subway, light track and bus lines arriving from all points of the compass — hence the building’s round shape.e>