Female subway waiting areas to open in Wuhan

Women-only waiting areas will be provided on a new subway line to open later this year in the capital of Hubei province, Chutian Metropolis Daily reported Monday.

Wuhan Metro Line 2, which will start running by the end of 2012, will set up the segregated areas to better protect women's safety, according to Wuhan Metro Group.

The rooms will be installed with monitoring equipment and women can enter carriages from these areas.

The move comes after reports of sexual harassment in recent weeks on subways in a number of cities including Shanghai and Beijing.

More than 80 percent of people think sexual harassment exists on the subway according to a poll reported by China Youth Daily. About 14 percent of people said they had been sexually harassed while riding the subway.

Experts and metro companies offered tips for women to better protect themselves and the news sparked a debate about women-only carriages.

In Wuhan, some stations on Line 2 including Hankou Railway Station and Hongshan Square Station will have rooms for mothers and babies. Mothers can stop at these stations to feed their babies.

Each station on the new line will also have a self service library machine so passengers can borrow and return books.