An inter-city rail line between Shanghai and Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, will be as fast and convenient as the subway in the near future, according to local railway authorities.

Authorities are going to increase the capacity of the rail line linking the two cities starting tomorrow.

Two new express trains will be added to the line, the Shanghai Railway Administration said in a statement.

These two trains will be Bombardier high-speed trains, with an average running speed of 132.7 kilometers per hour, making them the fastest trains operated by the administration.

The faster trains are expected to cut down the travel time between the two cities by 25 minutes to only two hours and 17 minutes, according to Liu Jianmin, vice director of the administration.

Once the two new trains are added, five trains will leave Shanghai for Nanjing between 7:55am and 9am - rush hours. The shortest interval will be only seven minutes, which makes it as convenient as a subway ride during this period.

The line between Shanghai and Nanjing is 303 kilometers long. At present, 79 passenger trains and 53 cargo trains travel the route every day, making it one of the busiest rail lines on the planet.

The administration says expanding capacity will allow the line to carry nearly 6,000 more people every day, a figure that is almost equal to the capacity 150 high-speed buses can offer.

Tickets for the two express trains will cost about 10 percent more than tickets for regular trains.

The charge for a soft seat ticket will increase to 79 yuan (US$9.52), while a hard seat ticket will cost 52 yuan.

(Shanghai Daily December 7, 2004)