Beijing subways expecting shorter interval

Beijing has plans to reduce the time interval between trains on its three busiest subway lines, over the next several years, local transportation authorities said on Tuesday, with the minimum interval on Lines 1, 5, and 10 expected to be two minutes, the minimum interval in major cities of the world.

This means that, if we add in Lines 2 and 4 (the two that now use this system), subway passengers in the capital will have five lines with only a 2-minute interval.

A passenger on the Xiju station of Subway Line 14. [Photo by Xinhua]

Metro Line 5 has seen some progress in this, by adding new trains and improving facilities, making it possible to shorten time intervals in the first half of next year. Meanwhile, with Metro Line 10 getting more trains next year, time intervals for Beijing’s second loop line will be shortened to 2 minutes, by 2015.

And Line 1, the city’s oldest subway line, will adopt a more advanced signal system, in hopes of increasing its efficiency.

Beijing also plans to install more doors to ensure passenger safety on the platform of some older lines, said Zhang Wenqiang, of the local transportation authority, who added that the Batong Line and Line 13 will be the first recipients in this installation project, which will be finished by the end of this year. All the new doors should be in place in the first half of next year, after a bit of debugging.

Door installation for Metro Line 1 and 2 has been approved and the project will start this year.