Shanghai Metro announced recently it would install the first safety barriers by the end of next year to keep passengers from falling off the platform.
The first barrier would be installed between the platform and rails at the Guangzhong Road subway station on an extension of
Shanghai Metro's No. 1 line, said a company source.
A barrier system at each subway station was part of the original design of
Shanghai Metro's No. 1 line, but this was postponed because the company could not arrange a supplier before the line opened in 1994.
The extension of the No. 1 line, currently under construction in the northern part of the city proper, is scheduled to open after the safety barrier is installed.
The barrier, transparent and computer controlled, will remain shut until a train stops at the station and will open its doors for passengers to get on and off, said Wei Lini, project manager with
Shanghai General Refrigeration Machinery Co. Ltd., a local firm which has won the contract for the barrier construction.
The company said it would use state-of-the-art technologies provided by Faiveley, a French firm that had built similar safety facilities for the Lille and Paris subways and a major airport expressway in the
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
A section of the barrier is on display at the Fourth
Shanghai International Industry Fair.
The barrier was also expected to save power as, unlike most barrier-free stations, the cold or warm air generated by air-conditioners was less likely to disappear along the tracks.
Shanghai Metro said it planned to invite tenders for more safety barriers to be built along its subway routes in the coming years.
Shanghai has China's most developed urban railroad network. Its 65 kilometers of underground and light rail carried 280 million passengers in 2001.
Safety, however, is at the top of the company's agenda, as more than 20 passengers have died after accidentally falling from platforms into the paths of oncoming trains in the past eight years.
