Beijing’s sprawled-out transportation hubs just became more connected with Thursday’s opening of a new express line that will whisk passengers from Beijing Railway Station to Beijing West Railway Station in just 15 minutes.

Commuters will be able to get directly across town without any stops in between for the low cost of RMB 8 for a hard seat ticket.

As convenient as the new line is, it is entirely inappropriate for sight-seeing since it is Beijing’s one and only underground train line, running for 10 minutes in total blackness before emerging aboveground just before arriving at Beijing West Railway Station.

And, to be clear, service is currently only available for westbound trips from Beijing Railway Station to Beijing West Railway Station, and not the other way around.

Although commuters may want to avoid train stations due to their line-ups and security checks, the express train from Beijing Railway Station to Beijing West Railway Station turns out to be the fastest method of transportation for traveling between those two destinations.

Public buses between the two train stations may cost just RMB 2, but will require up to 50 minutes to complete their combined average of 14 stops; meanwhile, the existing express bus that links the two transportation hubs is actually more expensive at a cost of RMB 10.

The new express line also performs well when compared to the Beijing Metro, which will require commuters to ride three subways (Lines 2, 4, and 7) and make their connecting transfers in order to complete the 32-minute-long trip.

The K7751 will be making the westbound journey up until year’s end when a new intracity express train is set to begin operations, completing trips between Beijing West Railway Station and the eastern suburb of Tongzhou in just 42 minutes.

The 38.8-kilometer-long express line will have stops at the still-incomplete Yamenkou Station, Beijing West Railway Station (Line 7 and 9), Beijing Railway Station (Line 2), Beijing East Railway Station (future CBD Line), and Tongzhou Railway Station.

In other railway developments, train service from Beijing Station to some destinations in Shandong and Dongbei will cease operations during parts of October and November. And for more positive news, train passengers are now able to pay for their train tickets using WeChat.

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Twitter: @Sinopath
E-mail: charlesliu1@qq.com

Images: Sohu, BJ News

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 …

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on May 29, 2014

Photo courtesy of wikipedia