Today marked another milestone in the evolution of our City’s mass transit system, as the Nanjing Metro network put into operation another 11 kilometres of track, to give the entire system a length of 484 kilometres. And some awe-inspiring engineering was responsible.
Nanjing Metro Line 7 became officially complete at 13:30 today, 28 December. And The Nanjinger was eager to be among the first to travel on the centre section of the Line that unites its northern and southern counterparts, opened 1 and 2 years ago to this day, respectively.
Specifically, this publication had an interest in that which is the deepest station on the entire Nanjing Metro Network; Qingliang Shan Station.
Spanning Guangzhou Lu and Huju Lu and reaching up to 52 metres underground over seven floors, this station is the equivalent of several 15 story apartment blocks.
It was a fact not lost on a lot of people today. With other stations considerably less occupied, local TV and a plethora of new media were out in force to visit the cavernous new station.
They, together with throngs of local citizens, delighted in taking photos and video of the enormously long escalators. All in, it’s a 3 minute, 20 second ascent from the station hall to ground level. And not much quicker for the chap witnessed attempting to jog up the length of the escalator; he failed.
With a ceiling decorated with supposed dragon-scale shapes combined with modular elements, Qingliang Shan Station also features the only column-free arched station hall on Line 7.
To realise this feat, the construction team dug shafts on the north and south sides of Guangzhou Lu, and then deep down and inward in part to avoid interrupting surface traffic.
Line 7 is a technological marvel, being driverless and equipped with the highest-possible level of automation, known as GoA4. That helped bring the Line to packed this afternoon, much more so than the opening of its northern and southern sections previously, and for the simple fact that this centre section of Line 7 is very much downtown. Today is already making a big difference to the lives of many people.
Just as with all lines on the Network opened since 2021, Line 7 also features baby-changing facilities at every station, usually located at platform level. Read all about these and how to use them via this link.
Make no mistake, when it comes to transportation, this is one impressive piece of engineering, the likes of which perhaps not seen in our City since Nanjing South Railway Station opened in 2010.
Even the toilets are rather spruce. Except the taps didn’t work. Welcome to Nanjing, Metro Line 7.
