In China, city planners are conducting flexibility studies and initial planning to develop skytrain in order to ease deteriorating traffic congestion in the urban area of major cities. The rising numbers of vehicles in the cities have created heavy traffic congestion. Experts propose the development of the skytrain, an elevated transportation system, to alleviate the situation. The system is being studied and proposed in more than 7 cities in China, including Shanghai, Tianjin and Wenzhou.
     The proposed skytrain system runs on elevated viaduct at approximately 50 km per hour. The benefits of skytrain are: shorter construction period, quiet operation and cheaper construction cost when compared with metro and light rail systems. The construction cost of skytrain in China is estimated at approximately RMB150 million per km. There will be an extra saving of RMB50 million if all local equipment and materials are used. The overall investment cost is much lower than the metro which costs approximately RMB700 million per km.
     Since the skytrain runs on elevated viaducts and stations are built above ground, there will be less disruption to the surface landscape. The operation and maintenance costs will be also much lower than the metro system.