This Day, That Year

Item from Aug 8, 1998, in China Daily: Shanghai's long-awaited elevated railway, the country's first, received approval from the State Council, China's Cabinet.

The 25 kilometer railway, at a cost of $1 billion, starts at Caohejing in Xuhui district and ends at Jiangwan town in Hongkou district with 19 stops on the way.

Since the first elevated railway in Shanghai started operation in December 2000, public transportation networks have seen accelerated construction in big cities to ease traffic congestion.

China plans to complete more than 2,500 kilometers of its rail network in major cities during the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20), at an estimated cost of 1 trillion yuan ($149 billion).

Shanghai authorities plan to extend the subway network to 830 km by 2020-more than the distance from New York to Chicago.

However, metro construction is not enough. Chinese engineers are looking for new ways to ease traffic jams.

Last month, a prototype of a mounted monorail train was unveiled in Qingdao, Shandong province. Manufactured by CRRC Qingdao Sifang, the train is designed with a maximum operating speed of 70 km per hour, the fastest of its kind in China.

Driven by a high-efficiency magnet motor, the experimental train runs along an overhead monorail.

The company in Qingdao is undertaking China's first overhead monorail project in Hancheng, Shaanxi province. The construction of the line, which is designed to stretch 55 km, began in November.