Addressing the public concern about railway safety in Beijing, the corporation said that it had installed adequate fire-fighting equipment and facilities, made contingency plans and launched several fire-fighting drills.

Beijing's subway has so far been equipped with two automatic fire-prevention systems. One is a two-layer monitoring system set in the monitoring center and at each station. The other is an automatic water sprinkler network. In the tunnels of the subway, there are special fume extractors, which, in case of a possible fire, would be turned on immediately to expel poisonous fumes and smoke.

In all subway stations, the corporation had beefed up patrols and improved education of emergency procedures among its employees.

To minimize losses in case of fire, the source said, the municipal government would resort to the media to educate commuters on what to do in the case of any possible subway fire.

Two subway trains in ROK'd southeastern city of Taegu were gutted in a heavy fire in which more than 130 people have been reported dead on Tuesday.

(Xinhua News Agency February 20, 2003)