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Beijing Subway plans hit rush hour

By Xin Dingding (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-06-16 08:25

A substantial underground network would be a boon for any major city and, recognizing this, the municipal government in Beijing recently added another four lines to its long-term subway plan, which will bring the total number on completion to 22.

By 2015, the city aims to be running 18 lines stretching 561 km, while the number of passengers will hit 10 million a day, the authority said.

The rush to finish lines 4, 8 and 9 by next year, meanwhile, has heightened fears of on-site accidents among citizens and experts, including Zhang, who said: "When too many projects are carried out at the same time, it will naturally increase the risk of accidents."

A string of incidents have hit subway construction in China over the past two years, the latest and worst being in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, last November when at least 17 workers were killed when 75 m of tunnel collapsed at the planned Xianghu Station, in the southern suburbs of the picturesque city.

In Beijing, the most recent incident was in 2007, when a section of Line 10 in the Haidian district collapsed during construction. Six people died.

Complicated geographical conditions also hamper underground construction, said Zhang, but he insisted the biggest challenge was the fact China was undertaking large-scale subway developments without sufficient numbers of experienced professionals.

"China lacks the professionals for subway projects, as only a couple of cities have built them in the past," he added.

A boom in subway construction in the last few years has seen 14 cities in China start work on 46 urban rail lines, totaling 1,212 km, said Dou Hao, deputy general manager of China International Engineering Consulting Corporation.

Five more cities have also had plans for mass urban rail transit systems approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, he said.

It is estimated about 2,100 km of track will have been laid across 19 cities by 2015, costing at least 800 billion yuan ($117 billion).

It puts designers, engineers and construction workers at a premium, which is reflected in their salaries. "An adept subway construction worker is difficult to find, so they are paid 150 yuan a day, three times that of a worker who does not have the right skills," said Zhang.

As CES secretary-general, he has been on investigation teams following several accidents and said most could have been avoided if the on-site manager had been more experienced in building subways.

However, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development said it sends inspectors for regular checks on urban rail projects, and has drafted national standards on managing the risks involved in subway projects.

Liu Xiaochen, deputy director of the standing committee of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress, has also urged safety supervision departments to stay alert to prevent potential accidents.

Keeping passengers safe on existing lines is also a priority for the Beijing government. "The subway is so crowded at peak times many passengers need to be pushed by subway station employees to get in the carriage," said Gao Yang, a deputy of the Beijing Municipal People's Congress.

Transfer stations are regarded the most congested by travelers, who say stairways and platforms can be at bursting point in rush hours, when trains unload approximately every two minutes.

Liu Xiaochen added lines 1 and 2, which have the most transfer stations, are under "unbearable stress" and have become a "latent danger".

Built in the 1960s and 70s, the lines were intended as evacuation routes in the event of a war. But according to a report by a subway safety supervision team under the State Council in 2003, neither has the sufficient safety systems required for an underground public transport network.

Despite efforts during the last three decades to update its ageing infrastructure and rolling stock, Beijing News reported that 114 old trains still run on Line 1. However, they all cleared checks for the standard of emergency equipment following the horrific public bus fire that killed 27 passengers in Chengdu, Sichuan province, on June 5.

The lines also suffer occasional breakdowns, the latest being last Wednesday when 100 morning commuters were stranded for more than an hour when Line 2 was suspended due to a track fault.

The subway operators have adopted strict measures to prevent problems, including cameras on carriages and platforms, as well as bag-scanning equipment and metal detectors in every station.

"Our security checkup measures have discovered nearly 57,000 forbidden items in the past year that passengers had been planning to carry onto the subway," said Jia Peng, a spokesman for Beijing Subway. "They include 17 guns, 122 bullets, three bombs and 21,461 knives, as well as at least 18,000 flammable items and 126 toxic items.

"We have drafted emergency action plans and we carry out drills every year, just in case."

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