The financial center of Shanghai will expand its urban rail system to 500 km by 2012, aiming to carry about 8 million passengers daily, the city's urban rail construction headquarters said on Tuesday.

The remarks came at the start of construction of the 40.4-km light rail Line 12. Work started on the first phase, or 16.4 km, of Line 13 on Sunday and the 21-km second phase of Line 11 on Dec. 19.

A spokesman of the headquarters said the city would have 13 lines and 237 stations in service in 2012. When all the lines were completed, more than 40 percent of Shanghai's public transport commuters were expected to travel by rail.

The spokesman declined to reveal the investment.

At present, the 2010 World Expo host city has eight lines with a total length of 234 km and 161 stations. The current urban rail network accounts for 20 percent of Shanghai's public transport and carries a maximum of 3.2million passengers daily.

(Xinhua News Agency December 30, 2008)