Work began yesterday in Shenzhen on a subway terminal at the Lowu border checkpoint in an effort to alleviate congestion between Hong Kong and the city.
The station will have a floor area of more than 120,000 square feet and will be China's largest subway station when phase one of the system is completed in 2004, said Zhao Penglin, chief engineer of the Shenzhen Municipal Bureau of Urban Planning and Land Resources.
The Shenzhen subway will connect Lowu Customs checkpoint, Lowu Commercial Building, the bus station and Shenzhen Railway Station. It will help divert traffic from the Customs checkpoint to other parts of the city, according to Mr Zhao, who is in charge of the planning, design and construction of the project.
The terminal station will have three floors. On the ground floor there will be an 'ecological park', according to the plan. Construction of the main structure started yesterday and the railway track will be laid in May next year.
On average, Shenzhen receives 300,000 visitors from Hong Kong every day - more than 100 million visits a year. Most of the traffic is concentrated in Lowu.
In addition to easing congestion, the authorities hope the subway will also help stimulate the economy, said Zou Lan, senior researcher of Shenzhen Comprehensive Development Research Institute.