Subway's Line 7 Undergoes Testing, to Open by End of Year

Line 7 of the Beijing Subway, running east-to-west, south of Line 1 and linking the Beijing West Railway Station, Shuangjing and the Happy Valley Amusement Park, is currently undergoing testing and will open formally before the end of the year, Chinese news reports indicate.

The line will cut a long swath across the south side of the city, hopefully relieving congestion on Line 1 and Line 10. 

Starting in the west at the Beijing West Railway Station, the rail runs eastward in a relatively straight line past Shuangjing and eastward to Baiziwan before cutting southwest towards Happy Valley and into Tongzhou and beyond.

Remarkable about this line is that it's the first to built with entriely domestic materials, the capacity of each eight-carriage train will be 30 percent higher than any existing line. Other Beijing lines have have used significant overseas sourcing for cars, tracks or materials, or have been joint ventures with the Hong Kong MTR.

The carriages will also have environmentally-friendly features such as long-lasting LED lighting and a total weight approximately one ton lighter than cars on other lines, meaning less energy usage overall.

The 24-kilometer line will take 40 minutes to travel from end to end and along the way will have interchanges with existing Lines 10, 5, 4 and 9, as well as connections to future Lines 16, 8 and 14.

Given that it is the first to use completely China-sourced materials, we're wondering if it can also withstand 100 air bombings like Line 1 ...