Shanghai and Suzhou will become the first cities in the country to be linked by subway, according to a blueprint by urban planners in Suzhou.

The plan calls for the construction of three subway lines, two of which will link to Shanghai, Oriental Morning Post reported on Friday.

If the blueprint is approved, construction will be completed by 2020.

According to Wang Hao, head of the urban planning office under the Suzhou Urban Planning Administration, one metro line at Suzhou Industrial Park will join Shanghai's Line 11 in Jiading District. The other will connect to Line 2 in Shanghai's Qingpu District.

The third metro line in Suzhou will link it to Shuofang Airport in neighboring Wuxi City, according to the report.

In addition to the ongoing construction of the Beijing-Shanghai Express Railway and the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway, Suzhou is also involved in three other city railway lines that will connect it to Jiaxing, Nantong and Shanghai's Jiading District.

To protect the environment, designers decide part of the Suzhou-Jiaxing Railway will be underground, making it the only railway line in the country to have underground tracks.

Meanwhile, the railway line to Jiading District will travel past some counties that the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway does not service, the report said.

A Suzhou-Hangzhou railway is also being planned, according to the report.

(Shanghai Daily August 15, 2008)