Extra, extra! The Shanghai government just launched an environmental impact assessment into two electric tram lines that would go up in the Songjiang district, linking to Metro Line 9, Shanghai Daily reports.
The routes will cover a combined 28.5 kilometers and link to Metro Line 9 at Songjiang University Town station. Construction is set to start in October and the lines are scheduled to go into operation in January 2017.
The trams that will run on the new lines will have four carriages and be able to carry up to 368 passengers, officials said. As well as being highly energy efficient, the trams will have a top speed of 80 kilometers per hour.
Currently, the city has only one tram service, but obviously it doesn’t get much use as it’s offered at Pudong’s Zhajiang High-Tech Park (above). Authorities in the Songjiang district, however, plan to have six of such tram lines by 2020.
Meanwhile, we’re still waiting on our monorail.
[Image via Wikipedia]