Beijing subway handles record number of passengers

BEIJING - Beijing's subway lines posted a record daily passenger trips of 8.39 million on Saturday, according to the Beijing MTR Corporation.

The Labor Day holiday encouraged many people to take public transportation, with all of the subway's lines breaking passenger records on Saturday, the company said.

Subway lines one and two recorded 1.6 million and 1.5 million passenger rides, respectively, on Saturday.

Beijing currently has 15 subway lines in operation. The total length in operation is 372 kilometers.

According to plan, number of lines will reach 19 by 2015 with a combined length of 561 kilometers. By 2020, the total subway length is expected to increase to 1,000 kilometers.