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A new triangular subway transfer hall will be built next year to facilitate passengers switching trains at People's Square in Shanghai, construction company officials said yesterday.

Once completed, the transfer hall will not only reduce the time it takes to switch trains, but will also lead subway passengers to an under-construction entertainment plaza at the conjunction of Nanjing Road E. and Xizang Road M.

"Subway commuters will find it much, much easier to transfer subway lines because they don't have to take the long and crowded single transfer channel any more," Pao Guixi, a spokesperson for Shanghai No. 1 Construction Ltd Corp, said yesterday.

Currently, the No.1 Metro line handles more than 600,000 passenger trips every day on average. As its 12-kilometer northern extension will soon open to the public, the line is expected to handle many more passengers from the city's northern Baoshan District.

The only existing transfer channel between the No.1 and No. 2 Metro lines is a slim and long route that is extremely crowded during rush hours.

Song Beigeng, an accountant working for a Pudong-based foreign trade company, commented: "Walking from No.1 Metro line to No. 2 is one of the most unpleasant things for me every morning."

"The ventilation is very poor, which always makes me sick."

Although the new transfer hall is under construction, it may take a while to build since it is located in central downtown and most construction work has to be conducted at night, company officials said.

Currently, the city's subway lines cover 82 kilometers, excluding the 30-kilometer maglev line from the Pudong International Airport to Longyang Road Station.

However, some transport experts are worried that the city may find it difficult to build new subway transfers because it didn't put aside space for them when building subway stations.