First interprovince subway route opens

A new subway route that connects Shanghai and Jiangsu province will boost economic integration in the region and encourage more people to take the metro, experts said.

The route, an extension of Shanghai's subway line 11, opened on Wednesday for a trial run linking the country's commercial hub and Jiangsu's Kunshan, a booming county-level administration.

"It integrates people living and working in the Yangtze River Delta region and boosts regional development," said Yu Hongsheng, director of the Urban Development Research Center under the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

Spanning 6 kilometers, the extension takes only 7 minutes to travel from the last stop in Shanghai, Anting station, to Kunshan.

The extended route makes stops at three new, elevated stations at Zhaofeng Road, Guangming Road, and Huaqiao station, all in Kunshan.

Escalators, elevators, public restrooms, and air-conditioned waiting rooms have been built at each new station.

From Huaqiao station, residents can travel to the commercial Xujiahui district in downtown Shanghai in about one hour.

The extension brings the total length of Shanghai's metro network to 468 kilometers with a total of 303 stations.

As China's first interprovince subway route, the new line will help break the deadlock set by different administrative divisions and benefit both Shanghai's and Kunshan's economies, experts said.

"Compared with Shanghai, the housing prices and commercial costs have remained low in Kunshan," said Zhou Weilin, a professor of economics at Fudan University. "The new line will definitely promote Kunshan's tourism, employment and its commercial links with Shanghai."

The new line will also make it easier for Shanghai to shift its low-end manufacturing businesses during its pursuit to develop its financial sector, he added.

It is a good start and its success will see a city cluster linked by subways and further break the administrative barrier, he said.