The eastern extension of Metro Line 2 will connect Pudong International Airport in 2010, when it will take less than 60 minutes to travel between it and People's Square, Shanghai's rail transport authority said yesterday.

The extension will include 11 stations – eight underground and three above ground. None of the stations will link to other subway lines.

The distance between Haitian Road Station and Yuandong Avenue Station will be 5.8 kilometers, the longest in the city. Traveling between the two stations will take about 10 minutes, according to a report by Shanghai Morning Post.

"The reason why the two stations are so far apart is that they are close to the airport and they are in sparsely populated areas,'' a construction official told the newspaper.

Zhangjiang Station in Pudong, now on an elevated road, will be rebuilt underground to match the whole project in the area.

"To ease passenger flows during peak hours at the station, another four stations will be built to satisfy office employees working in the high-tech area,'' the official told the newspaper.

The final 1.4-kilometer extension will be parallel to the Maglev line. A gap from 9.7 to 12.98 meters will be between the two lines, the report said.

(Shanghai Daily July 16, 2008)