BEIJING -- China is working on the speedy commuter railway service to ease travels between metropolitans and and their satellite towns, a senior railway expert said Saturday.

China's major State-owned train manufacturers, China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry (Group) Corporation and China North Locomotive and Rolling Stock Industry (Group) Corporation, are both busy developing new trains suitable for such service, said Li Heping, a researcher at the China Academy of Railway Sciences.

A prototype of the speedy commuter train, designed to travel at a speed of 200 km to 250 km, is expected to roll off the assembly line by the end of this year, said Li, also a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), on the sidelines of the top advisory body's annual session.

Over the decades, the country has seen fast development of cities and city groups, especially in industrialized Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, and the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas, he said.

"Many people have to commute between satellite towns and the city center. If we introduce the commuter railway of higher speed, it will make people's life easier," he said.

Although the new commuter train travels at a lower speed than high-speed train, researchers have to crack a number of technological problems, he said.

For example, since the commuter railway service runs in a short distance, trains have to speed up and slow down in a much shorter time, which needs accurate control system, he said.