Passengers, cars and cargo travel from heart of the city

Zhabei district is at the heart of Shanghai, home to the city's central railway station, the People's Square and the central business district along West Nanjing Road.

Zhabei is planning new developments to augment its historic role as the transport hub of the old city by making modern transportation services a core sector to serve commerce, real estate and urban industries.

Its goal is to build a modern business district by supplementing its existing transportation advantages. The convergence of railways, subways, buses and highways ranks the district at the top among Shanghai's nine central districts, according to the Research Institute for Industrial Economics of Fudan University

The Shanghai Railway Station is the largest rail passenger portal in eastern China and the hub connecting to other cities in the eastern region. More than 120 passenger trains and six commuter lines arrive and depart at the station daily. Passenger volume averages 215,000 daily, 45 percent of the city's total.

The 350,000 sq m Shanghai North Suburb Railway Station handles transport of complete vehicles, containers and bulk cargo, as well as frozen and cold storage products. As the largest bulk handling station in China, the station ships 7.6 million tons of freight annually.

The Shanghai coach passenger station at the north square of Shanghai Railway Station began operation in 2005 and now handles 20,000 passengers daily. More than 10 coach companies in Zhabei district with eight coach terminals serve 1,007 routes in 10 provinces including Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Henan, Jiangxi, Fujian, Shandong, Hubei, Hunan, Guangdong and the city of Beijing.

The district's Gonghexin Road elevated road is the main arterial link to the inner and outer rings of Shanghai.

To further strengthen its position as a transport hub, Zhabei has formed a road network of high-speed roads, major arteries and by-pass roadways that total 174 km.

Ten subway lines will serve Zhabei district when the network is completed, according to the Shanghai urban transportation plan. Four are now in operation.

(China Daily 05/08/2008 page18)