The World of the Beijing Subway: Blue Cheese, Mozart, and Sovietesque Design

OK, OK… what does blue-ified Emmenthaler, Mozart music and half-and-half Sovietesque design have to do with the more underground bits of the capital of a People’s Republic of 1.3 billion and counting? They form the incredible miracle in the making known as the Beijing Subway, which will give the Tube competition by 2015.

A little stroll now, if you will, of our odd, somewhat obsolete, but always Ohne-Stau (German for “no traffic jams”) subway network. (You see, I had to come out with three Os in a row, and I had to cheat using my German.)

Underground Mozart

When Subway Line 5 opened, Beijing got its first taste of — underground Mozart, get this. Everything was new on Line 5 — platform screen doors, automated ticket checking machines (live soon), the signage — and yes, the music. The Mozart. Unfortunately, the Mozart disappeared about three months into service, but when it was there, being underground and waiting for the train was one of the best musical experiences. The music they had was relaxing, and you felt that waiting for the train in itself was more a pleasure than an inconvenience.

Architecture-wise, the Mozart Line (as I call it) saw some major breakthroughs. Platforms were suddenly a lot wider (about double some of the smaller platforms on Line 1), there were chairs at platform level (except for at the interchange stations), and those horrible blasts of freezing wind that were sure to send you shivering when you headed to the exits (a la Line 2 stations) were no longer there. The best thing was probably the variety inside the stations — we’re talking about things as small as whether or not the columns were square, aqua blue, or sunrise yellow.

The signage was a relief, although upon closer examination they seemed to be more than a mere clone of their Hong Kong counterparts. (This shouldn’t be making the headlines, though; Line 4, now under construction, will be brought to you by — the Hong Kong MTR!)

Half-and-Half Sovietesque-ism

If melodious Mozart, TV screens at platform level, and platform screen doors make subway travel all the more enjoyable, the opposite can be said about Lines 1 and 2. Built less as a mass transit network and more as a “just-in-case” operation to stop the Soviets thinking of attacking Beijing back in the 1960s, these two lines have all of the Soviet-ish design along with none of the art (of the likes of the underground railway systems in either Moscow or Pyongyang).

Possibly the scariest underground pits are in Guchenglu station, where trains literally enter an underground semi-jailhouse. No effort has been made to impress the incoming visitor; nope, the whole thing was just built in a hurry.

Better are the underground palaces on Line 2, although even with décor like what you see below…

…we think that they could have been a bit more creative. But then again, wasn’t this built before they applied for the Olympics for the first time in 1993?

Coming Soon: Blue Cheese

If you long for more of either the underground pits or the Mozart Line, take note of this: if all the subterranean blueprints work out, Beijing will be home to 561 km — of the underground railway system — by 2015.

A rundown would seem scary, but here it is.

• Ready by June 30, 2008: Subway Lines 8 (Stage 1, aka the Olympic Branch Line), 10 (Stage 1) and the Airport Line
• Under construction now: Subway Lines 4 (city section), 6 (Stage 1), 8 (Stage 2), 9, 10 (Stage 2), and Daxing and Yizhuang Lines
• Under construction by late 2008: Subway Lines 7, 14, and probably the Datai Line
• Reality by 2015: Line 15, and Changping and Fangshan Lines
• On the drawing board: Lines 3, 12 and 16

While we could tell you where all these lines went, this blog would have fallen victim to pages upon pages of detail. So to make sure Elliott and Min get some airtime, I’m going to point you to the Subway pages on the Beijingology wiki, and leave you there.

Meanwhile, before I go, I’d like to show you what a Line 10 station in the works looks like…

…and just leave you with this bit of news: from the pictures of Line 10 stations I’ve seen in the paper, get ready for underground blue cheese…