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Capital Puts US$446 Million into Subway Safety Measures

2004/03/15

The municipal government will spend 3.7 billion yuan (US$446 million) on safety and security improvements to its subway system over the next three years, the mayor has announced, according to Xinhua News Agency.

Mayor Wang Qishan s announcement came in the wake of a subway explosion in Russia and a fatal stampede during a lantern show in citys Miyun County early February.

The main point of this project is to improve fire-prevention facilities, said Xie Zhengguang, general manager of the Beijing Ditie (Subway) Corporation. Xie said the project will also:

remove vending stands deemed dangerous from stations;
put more trains into operation;
improve alarm systems;
improve fire control, ventilation and electricity supply.

The project is working on contingency plans including emergency drills, said Xie.

Beijing now has three subway lines, with three others under construction, which are to be completed before the 2008 Olympics.

Subway passenger volume accounts for 15 percent of the city s public transportation passenger volume.



	Article featured in Business Beijing, March 2004 Publication sponsored by Information Office of the Beijing Municipal Government, Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, Development & Reform Commission of Beijing Municipality, China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (Beijing Sub-Council)