THE city government has announced the new names of Metro Lines 1-5, yesterday’s Chinese-language newspapers reported.

    Metro Lines 1-5 have been renamed Luobao Line, Shekou Line, Longgang Line, Longhua Line and Huanzhong Line respectively. The five lines, with a total length of more than 150 kilometers, will be completed before the 2011 Summer Universiade.

    Construction on the Futian Station Comprehensive Transport Hub, which is vital to the city’s Metro network, will start at the end of this year, Vice Mayor Zhang Siping was told Tuesday afternoon while he was inspecting the extensions of Lines 2 and 3.

    Located at the intersection of Yitian Road and Shennan Thoroughfare, the comprehensive transport hub will be the point where trains from Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, Metro Lines 1, 2, 3, 4 and 11 and Shenzhen bus routes converge. Upon completion, the 140,000-square-meter transport hub will be the first fully underground transport hub in China and reduce the travel time from Shenzhen to Guangzhou or Hong Kong to about 30 minutes.

    Construction on the eastern extension of Line 2, western extension of Line 3 and the transport hub will affect traffic in central Futian District, officials with the city’s urban planning bureau said Tuesday.

    The speed of vehicles on some of the main roads in the area, including Yitian Road, Mintian Road, Shennan Thoroughfare, Fuzhong Road 3 and Fuhua Road 1, will drop sharply and some vehicles will have to be diverted. Some sections of Yitian Road will be closed while the Yitian Flyover will be dismantled to make way for construction.

    (Wang Yuanyuan)