18.5 km from Xilang to East Station to be commissioned June, 1999 at final cost of $US1.53 billion. April 1999.   Construction of 21.34 km-long section of Metro Line 2 commenced in July, 1998 for completion 2003 at a cost of $1.2 billion. Undergoing feasibility studies is Suburban LRT Line with a total length of 26 km. Contact Director, Guangzhou Preparatory Office of Underground Railroad, No 204 Huanshi Road, Guangzhou, China 510010. November 1999.   Work commenced on 23.3 km-long Line 2 with 22 stations at projected cost of $1.3 billion. Phase 1 being undertaken by Shanghai Tunnel Shareholding Company involves TBM boring 190 m-long connection under Pearl river from Haihu Square station site for completion in 2002. Project commissioning scheduled for 2004. May 2000. North-south line 2 will use four Herrenknecht EPBs: two newly-manufactured machines Nos 179 and 180, and two 6.55 m-diameter machines Nos 134 and 135. Visit www.herrenknecht.com Sept 2000. First lot of present extension awarded to Shanghai Tunnel Engineering Co (STEC) with two TBMs by Mitsubishi/Robbins with STEC, in China. Visit www.robbinstbm.com October 2000. Two new lots awarded this year: north tunnel to Ministry of Railways Tunnel Bureau with two new Herrenknecht TBMs; and south tunnel to Guangzhou Municipal Dunjian Underground Construction Engineering Co.,Ltd who have purchased another two Herrenknecht machines. Each of the four machines will bore approx. 2 km in weathered mudstone/claystone up to 60 Mpa with some clay areas. The machines have VMT guidance and are EPB with hard rock features including cutters, powerful drive, stabilisers and optional semi-open or open mode. Segments are 1.5 m long, 5 + 1 (left and right), outside diameter 6.0 m, inside 5.4 m. The moulds & segment design by Ceresola AG. Visit www.ceresola.com and www.herrenknecht.com October 2000. Subway Corporation of Guangzhou City has submitted feasibility study for a high-capacity, 120 km/h third line to commence construction end-2001. Second 80 km/h line currently under construction at 23.27 km-long will be operational in 2003. Fourth line in preliminary design. Visit www.herrenknecht.de December 2000. Fourth subway planned 17.7 km to Bazhou and fifth from Guangzhou Baiyun Airport 35.3 km to Guangzhou East Railway Station. To date, five stations on the second subway, Jiangxia 23.265 km to Bazhou, have been excavated. Detailed plans for third subway, from Guangzhou East Railway Station 32 km to Panyu District, have been submitted to the State Development Planning Commission. Visit www.xinhua.cn 15/01. Construction of 8.55 km-long experimental section of third metro line, crossing Pearl River twice and with five stations, to start late-2001. 35.75 km-long third line from Guangzhou East Railway Station to Panyu District will be Y-shaped and have 18 stations. Completion is planned for 2007 at $1.92 billion. Visit www.xinhua.cn 24/01.Government approval for line 3 with 18 stations over 35.75 km length. The main line will run from Guangzhou east railway station to the Fanyu Square with 13 stops. Extension line from Tianhe bus stop to East Tianhe Street will have five stops. Construction of 8.5 km-long experimental line to start end-2001. Visit www.xinhua.cn 32/01.