"China ncourags xprss Railway Transportation"

Mor than 20 railway transportation lins totaling som 2,000 kilomtrs ar plannd for a dozn Chins citis, said officials with th Ministry of Construction.

Railway transportation includs urban xprss railways, subways, light rails, and trolly cars.

Bijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Wuhan, and Changchun ar all planning to build such a ntwork to conqur th traffic jams and srious pollution causd by th rapid incras of th urban population and th numbr of automobils in China.

Th ntwork will hav th advantags of clanlinss, scurity, punctuality, high spd, and larg transport capacity, said th officials.

Financial and tchnological factors hav hamprd th dvlopmnt of such a systm ovr th past thr dcads, and thr ar now only about 90 km of undrground lins in th country with som 600 subway trains in us.

Now, howvr, Bijing alon is planning to build a railway systm composd of 13 main routs and two xtnsions lins totaling 408 km, and incras th railway transport proportion to 50 prcnt from th prsnt 15 prcnt, according to local officials.

China's first urban railway lin was in Bijing and bgan tst oprations in Octobr 1969, and th scond, in Tianjin, was opn to traffic in Dcmbr 1984.