The total length of city rail systems in China reached 775 km by the end of 2007, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a report released on Tuesday.

Cities including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Dalian, Shenzhen and Chongqing established metro systems over the past three decades.

Rapid rail development improved local transport conditions, saved land, cut emissions and promoted local economic growth, said the NBS.

The NBS said people had an increasing choice of transportation modes. By end-2007, every 100 urban households had an average of 6.1 cars. There were 960,000 taxis and people made 53.3 billion trips on buses.

(Xinhua News Agency November 5, 2008)