LINE 11 TO AUGMENT GROWING NETWORK

This article reports an interview, discussing progress on constructing Shanghai's metro with its President and General Manager SL An; it includes a route map. The north-south Line 1 was opened in April 1995. Two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) are gradually drilling the east-west Line 2 under the shopping streets of central Shanghai, and ten are working on it altogether; Line 2 will eventually have an interchange with People's Square station on Line 1. Line 1 is now 21.6km long, and carries about 500,000 passengers per day, with trains running every 5min from 05.00 to 24.00 each day. Fare collection on Line 1 will soon be upgraded from paper tickets and manual checking to magnetic stripe tickets and automatic gates, and compatible fare collection equipment will also be installed on Lines 2 and 3. Construction of Line 2 began in 1996 and its 16.4km long first phase with twelve stations is due to be completed by the end of 1999, with commercial services expected to start before the end of 2000. Construction of a 10.6km western section of Line 2 to Hong Qiao Airport is expected to start soon after 2000, and a 31km eastern extension to a second international airport, not yet built, is now being considered. Another public-private partnership is constructing Line 3, and plans are being prepared for Line 11.