With the operation of the 25-kilometer rail, first phase of a 62-kilometer railway project, the total length of urban transit railways in Shanghai now increases to 65 kilometers, ranking first among other cities in China.

The new elevated railway, which starts from Southern Station of Shanghai Railway and ends in the town of Jiangwan in northern Shanghai, runs across six districts in the urban area with 19 stops.

The rail may transport some 688,000 passengers everyday in the trial operation at the speed of 35 kilometers per hour.

The rail has connections with subways, trains and buses at 17 stations and it only takes people one hour to travel from the south of the city to the north, while in the past, traffic services along the route were quite inconvenient.

France's Alstom will provide 28 trains for the first phase of the rail project. The first two trains will be manufactured in France and arrive in Shanghai by the end of next year.

Nanjing Puzhen Rolling Stock Works will assemble 26 trains, which are expected to run on the rail by February 2004.

At present, 10 trains of the No.1 subway line are running during the trial operation of the Mingzhu rail.

The Mingzhu project builds up the basic framework of the urban rail transportation system and establishes connections between the central area of Shanghai with its northern and southern regions.

(Xinhua 12/26/2000)