Subway Line 15: Opening soon!

From next week, Beijing's subway system is set to open five new lines - four are suburban lines linking the far outskirts of the city with little relevance to Beijing's expat community - but the new Line 15 will finally connect Wangjing to the rest of the inner city subway network. Although confirming an exact opening date has been difficult, it seems that the first phase of line 15 will be opening on December 28th, despite obvious aesthetic details still needing to be completed.

Touted as Beijing’s deepest subway at 38 meters below the ground, long suffering residents of Wangjing will finally be connected to the subway system. At present the area only has a rather than a token station on Line 13 several kilometers and many bus stops away from downtown Wangjing. A brand new transfer bridge will allow commuters to avoid the Black Cab hawkers that lurk outside Wangjing West station.

Whilst the opening of line 15 won’t be as significant as the opening of line 4 last year, those who live and work in Wangjing will notice the considerable difference in travel times between Wangjing and the rest of Beijing compared to the current lengthy bus journeys required to reach lines 13 or 10. By early 2011, the first phase of Line 15 will journey as far out as Shunyi.

However, reports suggest that despite the chronic overcrowding of the subway system, stations and trains on Line 15 will accommodate the standard Beijing size of six carriages so we can presume that peak hour usage of the subway will still be as congested as ever. It also needs to be mentioned that Line 15 will not be the panacea for all who live in Wangjing. The subway extension into the area is still in its infancy and those who live closer to the Lido district unfortunately won’t be experiencing the benefits of Line 15. Nevertheless, for those who live in central Wangjing and grown weary of the sardine tin buses, Line 15 will be a fantastic belated Christmas gift from the Beijing Subway.

For those who are interested the four suburban lines that will be opening are: The Changping Line which journeys northwest from Xierqi (Line 13) to Changping, the Daxing Line which will be a continuation of Line 4 from Gongyixiqiao to Tiangongyuan, the Yizhuang Line which will be a continuation of Line 5 from Songjiazhuang to Yizhuang Railway Station and finally the strange Fangxiang Line in the city's Southwest which oddly has no current connection to the Beijing Subway network.

Comments

New comments are displayed first.

Delayed until the 30th, according to various news sites (here's an article from NetEase)

Use the [url=http://m.nciku.com]nciku Mobile Chinese Dictionary[/url] - the same dictionary content as nciku.com, but for mobile phones (now also available offline as an [url=http://itunes.apple.com/app/id351524716]iPhone app[/url]).

The Shunyi station has yet to open but signs report that it will be opening on Thursday.

Rumors are that the subway is only traveling to Houshayu at the moment. If its traveling anywhere.

Deputy Managing Web Editor

Hey everyone, this article from the global times provides greater details to tomorrows opening!

"Subway to suburbs open to the public

Subway line 15 will open on Tuesday to begin taking passengers between Shunyi and the downtown area.

It will take 24 minutes from Shunyi to the city center, reported the Beijing News on Friday.

Construction has finished on nine stations between Wangjing and Houshayu, Shunyi district. The new line will be connected to subway line 13 at Wangjing West station with an enclosed overpass.

The opening is just part of a two phase operation. The rest of phase one, connecting Houshayu to Fengbo, will be finished by the end of 2011.

Line 15 is expected to reach a maximum speed of 100 kilometers per hour, with an estimated daily capacity of 436,000 passengers, reported the Beijing News.

Beijing's nine subway lines transported about 6.57 million passengers on Christmas Eve, close to a record set on September 21 which was over 6.58 million, the highest for the entire year.

Global Times"

http://beijing.globaltimes.cn/society/2010-12/604442.html

You should have seen it before they built the subway! Angel

To answer your question admin, yes that's Wangjing station, as the sign in the picture says.

Register and post your own events on the beijinger website.

The article references a new subway line that is going to connect "central" or "downtown" Wangjing to the rest of the subway network, and says that it is opening in a few days.

The picture is of a station that looks like it is located in the middle of an unpaved lot in the middle of nowhere.

Is that the station in downtown Wangjing?

(If so, now I have yet another reason never to bother to go there).

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20

Not sure... it's got a big subway symbol clearly visible next to what looks like a station entrance at the top of a post about a new subway line... but it's hard to tell what it might be...

Register and post your own events on the beijinger website.

what's that a picture of on the top there?

Books by current and former Beijinger staffers

http://astore.amazon.com/truerunmedia-20