Beijing

China (Asia)

Date of opening [d.m.y]	01.10.1969
Network length	141.35 km (87.85 mi)
Number of stations	93 (83*)
Number of lines	5
Stations per line	18.60
Avg. station distance*	1.70 km (1.06 mi)
Avg. line length	28.27 km (17.57 mi)
*with transfer stations counted once
World Metro List by J. Serradell, 1/2008.

System known as	Subway
Annual ridership	765 million (2006) [source]
Track orientation	Right
Air-conditioned trains	Recently
Walk-through trains	No
Rubber-tyred trains	No
Driverless lines	No
Platform screen doors	Platform gate doors on line 5's underground stations
Metro Features List

Metro Arts and Architecture

Examples of good station design:

Beijing

The recently opened line 5 has a few interesting stations, the most striking one being Beiyuan North station.

Photo [beijing2008.cn]: Beiyuan North station from 2007, alledgedly resembling a silkworm pod.

Departure Procedure and Sounds

No alert signal on some lines (especially with nearly ALL trains on Line 2, you just have to rush to the train before the doors close), others have just a rather quiet tone before the doors open and close. Lines Batong and 13, though, have an alert in two tones when the doors are closing. All announcements are in Mandarin and English. It goes like this: "Lieche qianfang de chezhan shi [name of station]. You zai [station] xiache de chengke, qing nin tiqian zuo hao zhunbei. [Station] jiu yao dao le." (Which means: The next station for this train is [station]. Passengers alighting at [station], please get ready. We will soon be arriving at [station]" (mp3 from beijing-visitor.com). When the train gets into the station, there is a Chinese alert only: "[station] dao le", which means, "we've arrived at [station]". This is right before the doors open.

Useful Links for Beijing Subway

Search (Google) (will most likely bring up Beijing Subway's official website)
System maps (Google Images)
City map (Google Maps) (might show metro stations when zoomed in)
Images (Google Images)
Search urbanrail.net
Wikipedia page
Beijing city information (Wikipedia)

Other City Pages at Metro Bits

This page: http://mic-ro.com/metro/metrocity.html?city=110

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