BEIJING | Public Transport

[Scion]

Beijing subway seizes up as traffic taken off road

One of Beijing's most important subway lines seized up on Monday when the mass of passengers forced workers to close off entrances for safety on the first working day of pre-Olympic traffic restrictions. Passengers were being allowed off Line 2, which runs in a loop around central Beijing, but not on to it. At least one major transfer station, at Jianguomen, was closed.

"There is a big crush of passengers. We've had to close the line for safety reasons," said a subway worker, standing in front of locked gates at the Fuxingmen station, a transfer point for Line 1.

The subway company was not immediately available for comment.

Monday marked the first working day of emergency traffic curbs that aim to take half of all cars off the road by utilizing an odd-even number plate system. Streets were noticeably quieter, but still busy during the morning rush hour.

Under the new rules, which began on Sunday, cars are banned on alternate days depending on their license plate number and most official cars have been impounded. Only taxis, buses and Olympic vehicles are exempt.

The government hopes to take around 60 percent of the city's 3.3 million cars off the roads, the official Xinhua agency reported, and reduce emissions by two-thirds over the two months until the end of the Paralympic Games in mid-September.

The city's chronic pollution has been one of the biggest headaches for Beijing Olympic Games organizers, who are banking on the car bans and last minute factory closures to bring blue skies and easy breathing for athletes.

Three new subway lines opened over the weekend, including an express link to the airport, to help take up the burden from the traffic controls.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080721/...YoHYz7AcdPzWQA

[hkskyline]

Residents laud convenience of city's newest subway lines
20 July 2008
South China Morning Post

Beijingers poured into stations of two of the city's three new subway lines yesterday afternoon to hail the start of services.

"We welcome the newly opened Line 10 and the Airport Express with the same enthusiasm as we welcome the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games," said Cao Fengge, a 75-year-old retiree in Tongzhou district, in the eastern part of Beijing.

Mr Cao said the new line would make it easy for him to visit the Fragrant Hills and other scenic spots in the western part of the capital.

"Line 10 runs 25km from Haidian in the western part of Beijing to the central business district, not far from Tongzhou. It's like a long-awaited shortcut for me," he said.

Mr Cao said it usually took him more than two hours to reach the Summer Palace, a former imperial garden, by bus from his home.

"Going to the imperial-garden-turned-park to relax my mind and keep fit is a must for me each week," he said.

"Now I need less than an hour {hellip} The newly opened line saves me time."

Video camera in hand, Hu Dajie, a 52-year-old bus driver, also joined the crowds swarming on to the platform at Line 10's Guomao station ahead of the 2pm opening.

Many of the people standing on the platform raised their cameras to record the celebratory scene as the first Line 10 subway train pulled into the station.

"I just want to get on to the first train to take a look at the brand-new carriages. Also, I will shoot what the train is like with my video camera, so that my family can see," said Mr Hu.

On the Airport Express, which traverses the 28km from Dongzhimen station in the city centre to the Capital Airport's new Terminal 3 every 15 minutes, many passengers said they appreciated the attractive interior of the subway carriages.

"The white walls and light-blue seats create a cosy atmosphere for passengers. I like the design," said Xu Songhua, a passenger preparing to fly to Yunnan province .

"If I take a taxi from my house I have to pay 70 to 80 yuan. But the ticket price for the Airport Express is just 25 yuan [HK$28.50]. It's good news for us because it's relatively cheap," he said.

"Also, I don't have to worry about traffic jams on the highway."

However, the day was not without criticism.

"I don't agree with Mr Xu, because I am not a plane passenger," said a man in his 40s.

"I am an employee at the airport and I commute from downtown. I think the ticket price is too high for me. Can't the government provide a favourable Airport Express ticket price for commuters like me?"

Other people complained that the luggage racks on the Airport Express train were too narrow, and that there were too few armrests on Line 10 carriages.

[snow is red]

Originally Posted by cristof

more pics plz??

Here :

[fishcatdogbird]

SAHWEEEEEEEEEEEEEET! Looks fantastic, hopefully they build more so the air quality gets even better! great investment for future generations!

[Anekdote]

Well, that picture scares me a bit. But the design at all looks actually not bad compared to other Chinese mainland metro systems.

[Dale]

I do believe that I could find my way around in Bejing better than Moscow. Not that other countries are obligated to use English, but it does seem that the Chinese cities are rather generous with English signage.

[Skybean]

Toronto's system is 50 years behind.

[Dale]

I'm surprised that those pretty girls didn't Kung Fu 02 for taking all those photos.

[bonivison]

some stations are really nice
very cultural and traditional and fantastic
love Beijing
A city full of art!

[bobdikl]

Originally Posted by Dale

I do believe that I could find my way around in Bejing better than Moscow. Not that other countries are obligated to use English, but it does seem that the Chinese cities are rather generous with English signage.

typical chinese pragmatism

[Dale]

Originally Posted by bobdikl

typical chinese pragmatism

Works for me.

[snow is red]

Just a short video of the line 10 from the BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/7519631.stm

[Sr.Horn]

The women with the red hair is the spanish senior correpondent of TVE (Spanish Television) in Beijing (before in TVE Hong Kong Center for all Asia), she calls Rosa María Calaf, is very famous in Spain.



She is a freestyle journalist, in spanish forum La Barra, she has a fan-club with a lot of videos since last year.

This is the video about the new subway lines (the photo)



For the other videos about this journalist, please visit the Calafódromo http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=452312

[z0rg]

Lol, we could recognise her anywhere just because of her hair. Indeed an excellent journalist, I love her mostly unbiased reports with her unique narrative style. She was also the first non Chinese journalist to reach the earthquake epicenter.

Sorry for the off topic post...

[big-dog]

Along with Line 10 and Olympic line (Line 8), Beijing Airport Express Rail opened on July 19 '08.

7.19-20, Beijing Airport Express Rail(28.1km) T2(inside)->T3->T2(outside)->Sanyuanqiao Station->Dongzhimen Station

Map


T2 station


















connection from T2 station to T2 terminal








7.20 T3 station






on the way to T2 station










arriving T2 station






leaving to Sanyuanqiao station








on the top of Siyuanqiao (4th Ring Road)





Sanyuanqiao Station




















Arriving Dongzhimen station
















(Thanks 虎虎 http://www.beijingupdates.com for the excellent pictures!)

[YelloPerilo]

Very nice!

[Booze]

Rosa María Calaf is a great journalist, just lovely

I love that new subway stations, specially the one with porcelnain style on the columns, very cool and nice

[Dale]

Having seen many hundreds of pictures of Shanghai and Bejing, I think I find Bejing more attractive. Perhaps this is because I see many more historical references in the more prominant buildings of Shanghai, Bejing seems unabashedly futuristic.

Just my particular taste in architecture.

[Khanabadosh]

Absolutely world class.

[BarbaricManchurian]

Airport express is beautiful, just the price isn't right...it's only good for solo travelers, for multiple people traveling, it's better to take a taxi, and for workers, driving themselves or using bus would be much cheaper. Especially since the price is 12.5x the rest of the system.