Construction of the new border system started in September 1967.[33] Nearly 1,300 kilometres (808 mi) of new fencing was built, usually further back from the geographical line than the old barbed-wire fences.[2] The upgrade programme continued well into the 1980s.[34] The new system immediately reduced the number of successful escapes from around 1,000 people a year in the mid-1960s to only about 120 per year a decade later.[35]