We’re now just one proverbial stop from the very, very long-awaited opening of Nanjing Metro Line 5. It’s a statement, however, which comes with a caveat; Line 5 in so far as only its section that runs through the City’s Jiangning District.
The good news came on 15 December, with Nanjing Metro announcing that the southern section of Line 5 had successfully passed its project acceptance.
With each element of the Line’s construction meeting design and standard requirements, so the next step is the trial operation of the Line 5, i.e. trains running without passengers.
The southern section of Nanjing Metro Line 5 runs between its southern terminus at Jiyin Da Dao and Shenjiying, with eight stations in between, namely, Jiulong Hu Nan, Chengxin Da Dao, Qianzhuang, Kening Lu, Zhushan Lu, Xinting Lu, Dongshan, Wenjing Lu and Dongshan Xiangzhang Yuan.
The building of a metro line in China typically takes 5 years. That has also largely been in the case in Nanjing. Line 5 bucks the trend, however.
It was as long ago as March of 2015 that tenders went out for the Line’s geological survey, design and project feasibility. January of 2016 saw the route and design of Nanjing Metro Line 5 approved, while construction of Jianning Lu station got underway that same month.
So what’s taking so long? Line 5 was always going to be difficult; there are to be no less than 16 interchanges with other lines, seven of which with lines which exist at present. Meanwhile, Line 5 also goes through downtown and along one of the City’s key axes, Zhongshan Bei Lu.
But Line 5 is different on account of two developments, namely COVID and the fact that along its route were discovered many underground historical relics. And Nanjing is very sensitive about that kind of thing.
The latter has not hampered construction in Jiangning District, bringing us to where we are today. With tests involving no passengers, or Nanjing Metro staff posing as passengers, typically lasting 3 months, we may be taking our first Line 5 train by the end of March of next year.
