All 17 stations on the Shanghai's Metro Line No. 4 will be equipped with passenger safety screens when the new mass transit link goes into operation at the end of this year, officials with Shanghai Rail Traffic Equipment Development Co Ltd said at a city exhibition yesterday.

The new screens will be more efficient and more artfully designed than the current installation at the Shanghai Circus Station on the northern extension of Metro Line No. 1, said Han Bin, general manager of the Metro equipment maker.

In addition, boards bearing the name of the station and direction of the train will be added to the tops of the screens, he said.

The transparent screens open and close along with the doors of the Metro trains when they pull into a station, keeping passengers from falling - or jumping - onto the tracks. The new screens will have improved synchronization with the train doors thanks to new technologies, Han said. Their frames will be silver-gray in color, creating a more harmonious appearance than the black-and-white devices at the circus station.

Shanghai rail Traffic is one of the nearly 150 exhibitors displaying their latest technologies at Metro China 2005 and Tunnel China 2005, which opened yesterday at Intex Shanghai.

The three-day show has attracted Metro equipment giants such as Bombardier, Alstom, Alcatel, Siemens and Westinghouse.

Bombardier, Alstom and Siemens were displaying automatic systems that don't need drivers.

All local Metro trains have adopted this technology, but drivers are still in place to handle emergencies, according to the Shanghai Rail.

(Shanghai Daily September 8, 2005)