Beijing leads Chinese cities in extending rail transit lines

BEIJING -- China's capital city of Beijing has vigorously promoted the development of green transportation, extending the total mileage of rail transit lines to 1,172 km, giving the city first-place ranking in China, according to a senior city official on Thursday.

Beijing currently has 27 urban rail transit lines with a length of 807 km and four suburban railways with a length of 365 km, said Gao Peng, deputy mayor of Beijing, at the fifth session of the Standing Committee of the 16th Beijing Municipal People's Congress.

Meanwhile, the city has actively promoted new-energy vehicles on the roads. At present, the number of new-energy and clean-energy vehicles accounts for 94 percent of public buses in the city, while 65 percent of the city's taxi cars are pure-electric vehicles.

Gao said the government will continue to shorten the transfer distance of public transport in efforts to optimize green transportation services in the city proper, where the target for green travel is 76.5 percent by the end of 2025.