This Day, That Year

Item from March 23, 1990, in China Daily: The first phase of construction of the Shanghai subway system got underway recently with a total investment of 2.54 billion yuan. Line 1 is one of the seven lines on the subway blueprint - this one will run the 14.57 km from Xinlonghua north to the Shanghai Railway Station.

The computer-controlled subway is designed to carry 40,000 passengers per hour during peak travel ... Shanghai is China's biggest industrial city with a total population of 11 million, of which 7 million live in the urban area.

Following rapid development in the past 25 years, Shanghai's subway lines hit a total length of 548km by the end of last year to become the longest such network in the country.