The Shanghai South Railway Station metro station of Rail Transport No. 1 will go underground by November as part of the new railway station development in the city's south.

But managers reassured residents the shift will not interrupt the subway as most of the work will be conducted after midnight.

"The South Railway Station is not only a key city project, but a vital development in the nation's transport system," said Vice Mayor Yang Xiong at a government meeting yesterday.

The project, hailed as the country's first wheel-shaped railway station, is due for completion by the end of 2005 and will open to passengers during the Spring Festival, or the Chinese lunar New Year, in 2006.

Located at the Caohejing Industrial Development Zone in Xuhui District, the railway station will consist of a five-story terminal building, a long-distance bus station and two public squares outside the terminal.

Project managers said the terminal will link three rail transport lines and several bus lines, making connections for further travel easy.

"The new railway station will become a gateway to the city," said Zhao Cuishu, a vice commander of the project headquarters.

The main terminal building is divided into an arrival hall on the third floor, a lounge hall on the second and a departure hall on the first floor leading to the platforms.

Eventually, a batch of shops, restaurants and entertainment venues will be built in the neighborhood of the station to make it into a new commercial center.

(Shanghai Daily August 20, 2004)