Shanghai, China's leading industrial and commercial city, will speed up construction of its subway system during the next five years, extending the track of its downtown transport network to 300 kilometers.
Zhu Husheng, chairman of the board of Shanghai Subway Operations Co. Ltd., said he hoped that by then subways would become an important part of Shanghai's public transportation and an irreplaceable means of transport for local residents.
There are now only 65 kilometers of subway serving the 6,340.5 square kilometers and 16.74 million people of Shanghai, which has become a cultural corridor dotted with celebrity quotations and beautiful frescos.
Shanghai was recently granted with the right to host the 2010 World Expo.
(Xinhua News Agency March 1, 2003)
