China's urban rail transit lines in service reached a total 933 km at the end of 2009, said an official with the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development Thursday.

Ten mainland cities operated 33 rail lines at the end of last year, said Li Xiaojiang, director of the ministry's subway and light rail center, at a forum on urban rail transport in the eastern city of Changzhou.

Shanghai had the longest network of about 300 km, followed by 250 km in Beijing. Shanghai will put another 120 km of urban rail line into operation ahead of the World Expo 2010, which starts on May 1 and runs till October 31.

Li, also director of the China Academy for Urban Planning and Design, said 1,400 km rail transit lines were under construction and 2,610 km more were planned.

China would invest 700 billion yuan (US$102.5 billion) on urban rail construction in the five years to 2015, the official said.

(Xinhua News Agency March 19, 2010)