Construction crews are busy working on six rail lines measuring
a combined 255 kilometers beneath Shanghai, promising to make this
year an historic one for the city's public transportation
sector.
Officials from the Shanghai Shentong Metro Corporation, the
developer and operator of the city's metro system, said the company
would complete and start operating three of the new metro new lines
by the end of this year.
The construction push will mark the first time Shanghai has
built three lines in a single year. These new lines will expand
Shanghai's current 145-kilometer metro network to 230 kilometers,
giving the city the country's largest subway network.
The Shentong officials also said the company would complete Line
4, a circular route which currently operates in a shape like the
letter "C", by the end of this year.
In the past month, extensions of lines 2 and 3 were opened to
passengers. The two stretches connect the city's center to the Bao
Steel Factory in Baoshan District and the planned Hongqiao
Transportation Hub in Changning District.
The city's five existing lines served some 649 million
passengers last year, with an estimated daily flow of 1.78 million,
representing a 10 percent increase over 2005, according to
Shentong.
Shanghai is expected to have a 400-kilometer subway network by
2010, when the city will host the World Expo. The expansion effort
will give Shanghai the world's third biggest metro network and
involve the relocation of more than 10,000 residents and 1,000
enterprises.
"The World Expo will help Shanghai speed up the construction of
its public transportation infrastructure, especially subways,
because the event is expected to draw a large number of visitors to
the city," said Zheng Shiling, an architecture professor and the
director of the Shanghai Urban Planning Commission.
(China Daily January 5, 2007)