This morning the world's fastest underground train zipped through south China's Guangdong provincial capital, commencing a service that will hopefully do much to tackle the city's heavy traffic problem.

 

Powering three cars worth more than 36 million yuan (US$4.5 million), the underground railway is the most advanced of its kind on the Chinese mainland.

 

The train, speeding at 135 kilometers per hour, in less than an hour will transport passengers from Panyu, in southern Guangzhou, to the city's international airport in Guangzhou's northern Huadu District.

 

At a weekend press conference, Zhang Changjun, deputy chief engineer with Guangzhou Metro Corp., said, "The operation of the Metro Line 3 will greatly ease Guangzhou's heavy traffic pressure and benefit more than 200,000 residents who now reside along the subway line."

 

At 2:00 PM on Monday, the metro train ventured on its debut journey along Guangzhou's Metro Line 3, which runs from the city's south to the north across the Pearl River.

 

"At the beginning, the advanced and the fastest underground will be operating among only six stations from Chigang in Guangzhou's Haizhu District to Guangzhou's Tianhe Railway Station on Guangzhou's Metro Line 3," Zhang explained.

 

The fast train boasts a 142-seat capacity of 675 passengers, and the durable cars are projected to have an operational life of more than 30 years.

 

Guangzhou's Metro Line 3, the longest subway line in the city, runs from Panyu Square in the city's Panyu District to the new Guangzhou International Airport.

 

When it realizes full operation in future years, the rail line will span 84 kilometers.

 

Benefiting from advanced technology and facilities, passengers can enjoy broadcasts of many television programs in the course of their underground transit on Metro Line 3, Zhang explained.

 

Qiao Zhuanghua, a Guangzhou resident, said that for years she had been longing to take advantage of the convenience offered by Metro Line 3. "It will take me only half-an-hour from home to reach my office in Tianhe District (a new business center in Guangzhou)," Qiao told China Daily yesterday.

 

Qiao lives in Guangzhou's Panyu District, once known as a suburban area of the southern metropolis.

 

Made by Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Corp in Central China's Hunan Province, each of the train cars are 2.8 meters wide and 19.98 meters long.

 

Besides the fast train, the Guangzhou underground's other services, Metro Line 1 and Line 2, operate at speeds of about 60 kilometers an hour.

 

To further improve the city's environment, the Guangzhou municipal government moved to commence annual construction and operation of a new subway line in the following six years.

 

The city's Metro Line 4 will soon commence operation in the first half of 2006, joining the advanced underground network that includes 143 metro stations.

 

To serve residents and visitors, by the time the city hosts the Asian Games in 2010, Guangzhou's managers plan to have in operation eight subway lines spanning 229.6 kilometers in transit distance.

 

 

 

 

 

(China Daily December 26, 2005)