Although the end of 2016 is less that a week away, local transportation officials have announced some major subway developments set to take place before the New Year is rung in.
First up: the openings of Chaoyang Park station on Line 14 and Wangjing East station on Line 15. Beijing News reported today that the hotly anticipated station, situated just north of the Line 6 Jintailu transfer station, and near the park of which it shares its name, will be ready for boarding and departing passengers before December 31.
Chaoyang Park station's central location and proximity to several major hotspots are sure to make it most noteworthy subway opening for anyone who lives just east of Sanlitun. However, more and more business professionals are being situated in the budding northeastern Wangjing hub, making Wangjing East station a convenient stop for them. Its closeness to Beijing Capital Airport also certainly won't hurt.
Chaoyang Park and Wangjing East stations are two of 10 currently under construction stops that passengers have glimpsed on their commutes, some of them no doubt eagerly waiting for the stations to open so that they can enjoy a shorter walk to their destinations. That leaves eight such uncompleted stops remaining, including Hongmiao (south of Chaoyang Park and Jintailu on Line 14), Fatouzhan on Line 7, and Yizhuang Train Station on the Yizhuang Line (all of which are bound to be less exciting to all but the most wanderlust-stricken of us). Authorities have not announced when these will eventually open.
Also breaking is the announcement today by state media that Subway Line 16 is also set to open by year's end, but with no specific date provided. And while the opening of a new line would normally be of major note to all Beijingers, the outlying, northwestern Fengtai-situated stops (all of them branching Suzhoujie station on Line 10) make them unlikely to stir the excitement of anyone but the most dedicated of rail riders. We'll save our energy for the far more conveniently located, but sadly still unfinished, Sanlitun Line 17 station.
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Image: Travel China Guide
Thanks for the feedback xz576 and Mary77, we'll endeavor to do better.
In regards to geography, I have to admit that although I have been here more than 16 years myself, I can count the number of times I have been to areas to be served by the new Line 16 on two hands.
The Beijinger should really stop writing about the Beijing subway system, since no one at the magazine seems to know anything about it. First the article a few weeks ago about the advices on how to behave during rush hour, that were so far from reallity, that it made me wonder if the editor had ever been on a train during rush hour; and now this, which user xz576 above has described perfectly as "alarming". How does an article which such obvious errors get the OK to be uploaded? Does no one double check the articles??
On a side note: I generally enjoy reading The Beijinger but in the last fews months the articles have just ben lacking "facts", meaning they have errors and seem to have been written by people that don't know the city. It feels like most of the editors have been here for maybe 2-3 years, probably live near the Third East Ring and spent their weekends in Gulou's Hipster hutongs. Sorry, if this sounds offensive, but it is also rather frustrating for readers that have been here for a decade or more (there are many of us) to read articles from people that don't know the city very well, that are simply wrong and don't show the real Beijing.
While I agree that most readers (based in CBD or elsewhere east of the city center) won't be interested in Line 16, it might be useful to clarify that only the northern part is opening this year, from Xiyuan on line 4 headed northwest in Haidian District. "Northwestern Fengtai-situated stops" is not geographically accurate, as the southern part of line 16 passes through Haidian, Xicheng, and Fengtai districts; the Fengtai part is in the southwest of the city and around the center of Fengtai District (going north to south). And it's not clear what "all of them branching Suzhoujie station on Line 10" means; there are many transfer stations planned (lines 1, 4, 7, 9, and 10), and Line 16 at Suzhoujie won't open for another two years. Maybe the author has mixed up Xiyuan and Suzhoujie? In any case, even given the eastern focus of the magazine and its readers, the lack of familiarity with Beijing's geography shown here is somewhat alarming.
