Xi'an is to build an underground station in 2013 to cater for visitors to its most famous attraction -- the world-famous terracotta warriors and horses, an official in the historic western Chinese city of Xi'an said Monday.

An underground trip from the city center to the Emperor Qin's Terracotta Warriors and Horses Museum is expected to take 50 minutes, down from the current one hour by expressway, said Ren Junhao, Party chief of Lintong District, Xi'an City.

The underground journey would be 30 kilometers long, said Ren.

Xi'an, famous for its buried army of terracotta warriors, mosques, pagodas and the splendid city walls, began building its first underground line in 2006, in an effort to ease traffic congestion. The east-west Line 1 will pass the terracotta warriors museum.

Ren believes the underground would become a major boost for tourism in Lintong District that boasts the terracotta warriors museum, the mausoleum of the first Chinese emperor and the Huaqing Hot Spring.

The district receives 7.5 million tourists every year, including 500,000 from overseas.

The terracotta army was discovered by chance in 1974 and the tomb that it "guards" has since been excavated, yielding many treasures.

(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2009)