GP was certainly referring to the Shanghai line, which feels much closer to put into service and to never put into service than one should reasonably consider possible at the same time.
Probably didn't see much modernization in the 20 years since it was opened. The trains in operation are two prototype iterations more advanced than the TR 06 from 1983, but differences to the TR 08 aren't bigger than differences between variations of the same high speed trains stools to different countries.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transrapid