An unusual film version of the Monkey King is playing in Shanghai's metro stations, teaching passengers how they should react to emergencies in the subway.

It is just one part of the city's stepped-up efforts to educate people in proper safety measures in the metro, a need brought into sharp focus by a series of terrorist attacks on the London Underground.

And education is not only for passengers, officials said, with rail transport staff also undergoing training.

Rail transport management authorities have recently required that the city's rail transport operation companies provide staff with anti-terrorism training to enhance their capability in handling emergencies.

It also asks the companies to pay more attention to patrolling tunnels and key stations and checking various facilities for explosives and combustibles.

The companies are also required to conduct training drills to ensure a free flow of information related to terrorism prevention.

An official from the city authorities, surnamed Wang, said the terrorism prevention measures were being kept low key so as not to cause a general panic.

In a separate development, an across-the-board revamp of the city's rail transport emergency and disaster treatment program was enacted last month. The revised program covers all major emergencies such as fire, explosion, poisoning and traffic overloading, Shanghai Youth Daily reported.

In February, the city conducted a drill at the Pengpu Xincun Station on Line One to evacuate passengers and control ground traffic.

Due to recent heat waves, the city's rail transport system is overloaded with a record high number of passengers, the metro lines alone carrying more than 1.5 million people a day.

Shanghai plans to build 17 rail transport lines covering the whole city and extending to a total of 780 kilometers.

(China Daily July 23, 2005)