Algerian capital finally gets metro line

Residents in Algiers, the capital of Algeria, finally have a metro line after waiting for nearly 30 years, as the city's first underground tunnel was dug in 1982. Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika inaugurated on Monday a subway line, with 11 trains starting operations on Tuesday. The 9.5-kilometer line is expected to extend to 40 km by 2020, thus linking Dar El Beida in Algiers' eastern outskirts and Draria in the capital's western outskirts. As many as 400 police officers, who have been specially trained in France, are due to be on patrol for the metro line, which is also equipped with 244 video cameras and detectors for explosives. The underground is to operate from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m., and is expected to transport some 25,000 people per hour in each direction during rush hours.