Summary：The city's fastest subway train is expected to enter a test phase along the future Metro Line 16 in the first half of this year, local Metro authorities said yesterday.

The city's fastest subway train is expected to enter a test phase along the future Metro Line 16 in the first half of this year, local Metro authorities said yesterday.

The train has a design speed of 120 kilometers per hour, said Shanghai Shentong Metro Group. It will traverse the line's 59-kilometer-route from Longyang Road Station to seaside Lingang New City in southern Pudong New Area. Line 16 is expected to start operation this year.

Shentong ordered 46 such trains from the producer, CSR Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive Co, a leading train manufacturer in China.

Metro officials said relatively high-speed trains are suitable for the long lines operating in suburban areas, such as lines 11 and 16, to shorten the journey time.

Shentong said "during daily operation the speed will not reach the top out of safety concerns."

The short distances between stations also will limit the speed.

The train's seats will be set in rows like those on railway trains, which will add about 20 seats on each carriage compared with the configuration on other lines.

By 2014, the city should have 14 lines with a network of more than 500 kilometers of track. Shanghai's subway system is already the longest in the world.