Shanghai metro operators will put 70 more trains into service this year to shorten intervals and extend service hours, Shanghai Morning Post reported today.

Subway capacity will be increased 50 percent once all 70 trains are in operation, the report said.

During the first 5 months of this year, an average of 3.09 million people take the subway everyday, an increase of 40 percent compared with the same period last year. The growth rate set a metro record, according to the report.

The subway network now handles about 23 percent of the city's commuters everyday, the report said.

There are eight metro lines with 161 stations covering 234 kilometers. By the end of last year, the capacity of the metro network in peak hours was 170,000 people per hour, the report said.

Lines 1, 4, 5, 6, and 9 extended service hours on June 1.

At the end of April, metro operators added 2 trains, including an eight-carriage vehicle to Line 2, which is expected to improve passenger turnover by 4.2 percent and reduce intervals on Line 2 from 3 minutes and 20 seconds to 3 minutes and 12 seconds, according to the report.

(Shanghai Daily June 18, 2008)