The Nanjing Metro’s fascination for sickly pink is continuing with the commencement of test operations for line S7 that will be the city’s 10th metro line when it officially opens next month, all going to plan.
As an extension to Line S1 that links Nanjing South Railway Station with Nanjing Lukou International Airport, some trains now arriving at the airport are alighting their passengers and then continuing on the new Line S7, as test trains, reports Jiangsu web channel JSChina.
In something of a first, the ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the line shall be performed by six newly-wed couples, while Lishui station itself shall be partially transformed into a wedding scene by a local wedding company. The activity is being advertised via 300 light boxes in 110 stations across the Nanjing’s metro network, according to a post on Jiangsu TV City Channel’s Weibo.
With trains capable of operating at 100 km/h, line S7 has a total length of 30.16 kilometres, comprising 10.34 kilometres of track underground and 19.82 kilometres of track overhead; there are nine stations in total, of which five are underground.
The new line shall provide greatly improved public transport connectivity for rural Nanjing in the depths of the city’s Jiangning district.
In keeping with most of Nanjing’s metro lines, it will have taken 5 years to open metro line S7; the initial environmental impact assessment for the line was made public for the first time in April, 2013.
When finally open, Line S7 will be Nanjing’s third line to have an officially designated colour that is a shade of pink, an initiative that has had mixed results with the recently opened Line S3.
Line S7 stations, from north to south, are Konggang New City Jiangning, Zhetang, Konggang New City Lishui, Qunli, Wolonghu, Lishui, Zhongshanhu, Xingzhuang and Wuxiangshan.
In non Chinese-speaking circles, Konggang New City Jiangning and Konggang New City Lishui are also known as Airport New Town and Lishui Economic Development Zone.
What more could any bride want, than to be married in pink, in an economic development zone, in the middle of nowhere? They are literally lining up, at the metro turnstiles.
