Shanghai is planning to build a low-speed Maglev train-manufacturing factory in suburban Nanhui District.

The trains are expected to serve the urban railway transport system, city officials revealed yesterday.

The factory, which will cover an area of 230,000 square meters, is designed to generate 60 Maglevs and 300 levitation frames each year.

Each train will have a maximum speed of about 100 kilometers per hour, compared with the Maglev that runs between Longyang Road and Pudong International Airport and hits 430kmh.

Xu Jianguo, president of the Shanghai Electric Co Ltd, the train manufacturer, said the lower-speed models will be quieter and more eco-friendly.

Preliminary scientific research has been completed and the firm will start construction of the train and frame-production plant with a fixed-asset investment of 310 million yuan (US$42 million).

The information came after the Shanghai Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference yesterday held a seminar about the planning of Lingang New City in Nanhui. The small city, close to the Yangshan Deep-Water Port, will cover a total area of 296.5 square kilometers and have an estimated population of 800,000 by 2020.

Besides the Maglev base, the new city will also build a 330,000-square-meter coal-mine machinery production base and a 40,000-square-meter wind-power generator base.

(Shanghai Daily November 22, 2007)