The trial western section of Beijing's first urban railway was put into operation yesterday.

Connecting Huilongguan in the north and Xizhimen, at the western-northern juncture of the Second Ring Road, the trial section of the No 13 urban railway is expected to open to traffic on September 28. Testing will last until September 25.

Pulled by locomotives, a total of 30 electrical trains in 10 groups underwent testing at Huilongguan yesterday.

After equipment testing, the trains will be fully trialled with electricity.

The 24-day trial will test tracks and signalling , according to the Beijing Urban Railway Company.

More than 1,000 railway staff and the first batch of 120 drivers have stated work.

Officials with the urban railway company yesterday warned residents of the electrical hazards associated with the tracks and the experiments.

The first 30 trains were chosen from those running on the No 1 and No 2 underground railway after a series of changes to windows to accord with sunny, rainy and windy weather.

To reduce the noise caused by the trains, installation was laid at some sections of the railway.

It is the first time the technique has been used in China, according to the railway company.

The second batch of trains is expected to be put into use by mid-December.

The trains are expected to be able to hit a maximum of 80 kilometres per hour and the average speed will be just over 41 kilometres per hour.

As the longest urban railway route in China, the U-shaped No 13 line coveres a distance of 40.8 kilometres, connecting the north of the capital and the two communications hubs of Xizhimen and Dongzhimen in the west and east.

According to a newly adopted local railway transportation layout, the urban railway will cover 300 kilometres in the future after increasing by 40 kilometres per year. The Beijing municipal government announced it has invested 10 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) in urban railway construction since the start of the year.

( China Daily September 3, 2002)