The first China-made subway train car of top world quality rolled off the production line Monday in the Puzhen Rolling Stock Plant in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province.

The Puzhen Rolling Stock Plant is a professional factory for producing light rail train cars. It has been working with Alstom of France since 2000 to produce 28 trains, comprising 168 cars, for service on a 25-km elevated light rail in Shanghai.

So far, 11 cars, which were either made in France or produced in the Puzhen plant under the strict guidance of French technicians, have been handed over to the subway service provider in Shanghai, said sources from the Puzhen plant.

An engineer with Puzhen said the plant was responsible for 156 cars for the Shanghai light rail line and Alstom in France would turn out the remaining 12 cars. Each train will consist of six wide-body aluminum alloy cars which are lightweight, compact, and have lower energy consumption and are considered the most advanced in the world.

The train will have 356 seats and room for 2,140 people to stand. It will run at a speed of 80 kilometers per hour, said the engineer.

(Xinhua News Agency August 19, 2003)