Construction starts yesterday on an extension of Shanghai's Metro Line 2 that will provide a new link to Pudong International Airport.

Shanghai Daily news

Construction began yesterday on a Shanghai Metro line extension that will provide a new link to Pudong International Airport and perhaps pose a competitive challenge to the magnetic-levitation train system.

The extension is part of a project that will eventually connect the city's two airports.

The new link, running between the Longyang Road Station of Metro Line 2 and the Pudong airport, will have 12 stops along its 30.8-kilometer route.

The Longyang station is also the starting point for the high-speed Maglev link to the airport.

"The extension of Metro Line 2 and the Maglev line will play complementary roles as transport options to the airport," Qiu Zhaoming of the Shanghai Rail Transport Headquarters said yesterday.

Officials didn't say whether plans to extend the Maglev to the Shanghai World Expo site or to Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province were still on the drawing board.

Maglev officials were not available to comment yesterday on their business plans or on whether the Metro extension will pose a major challenge.

Nine stations of the Line 2 extension will be built underground, two will be elevated and one will be at street level.

The extension was originally planned to be mostly elevated. But the blueprint was changed as a result of environmental concerns and complaints from residents living along the planned route.

The present elevated stretch between the Longyang station and Zhangjiang High-Tech Park, now the terminus of Line 2, will be placed underground.

Trial operation of the extension will begin in time for the World Expo in May 2010.

Construction designers also plan to extend Metro Line 2 west to Hongqiao International Airport.

When completed, Line 2 will span 60 kilometers, and the journey between the city's two international airports will take one hour and 20 minutes.

Metro Line 2 stretched 19 kilometers from Zhangjiang High-Tech Park to Zhongshan Park when it opened in December 1995. Another four stations had opened by the end of last year.

Metro Line 2 now serves more than 700,000 commuters daily. It operates 18 hours and 11 minutes a day with a minimum interval of 3.2 minutes between trains.

Shanghai plans to build 10 new Metro lines between 2005 and 2012, stretching 389 kilometers. The city Metro system is expected to span 510 kilometers by 2012.