Construction started on December 11 on the first urban light railway in Beijing, a safe, fast and pollution-free rail expected to help reduce the daily traffic gnarls in the Chinese capital.

The 40.5-km-long U-shaped light railway, 30.3 km on the surface, 7.7 km elevated and 2.8 km underground, will ultimately cost about 700 million US dollars. It runs from Xizhimen in the northwest part of the city to Dongzhimen in the northeast and will be completed in two phases, with the first phase expected to end by 2001 and the second by 2005.

Trains will travel at a speed of 80 km per hour, and allow residents living in the northern suburbs of Beijing a more convenient means of travel.

Experts said that the project will help improve the urban transportation structure and further relieve the traffic in the city's northern region.

Officials with related departments noted that it will also boost the development of the Zhongguancun Science Park in northwest Beijing, known as "China's Silicon Valley."

After completion, a transportation network based on light railway, subway and ring roads will come into being in Beijing, which has more than 10 million residents.