Improving passenger experience and addressing current flaws in station design are the key takeaways from plans for Nanjing North Railway Station just released. But delays are pressuring the delivery of that set to be the largest railway station north of the Yangtze in Jiangsu in just a few years.
The plans have recently emerged as part of an announcement as to the “Regulatory Detailed Planning for Nanjing North Station Hub Economic Zone”. Therein, it is revealed that construction on Nanjing North shall begin in the first half of next year.
And that’s the first thing to note; another delay. It was initially envisaged that Nanjing North would begin operations in 2025. Then there was the announcement, reported by this publication in February of this year, that construction of the Station building itself was tentatively planned to commence during the 4th quarter of this year.
Neither happened, but nevertheless, the current design plan has now entered its review stage, to be sent to the China Railway Group in the near future, as Nanjing Daily reported today, 17 November.
Looking to the plan in detail, the departures area is being referred to as an “Ecological Hall”, and if the renderings of the space are anything to go by, that is exactly what it is. Then there comes its overall interior aesthetic, where the word to be used is undoubtedly, “clean”. When it’s full of several thousand passengers waiting for a train is sure to put a dent in that, but points are worth being awarded for effort in that department.
When it comes to connections with the Metro network, “extensive” is now the word to use, for Nanjing North is to provide links with no less than five lines; namely Lines 3, 4, 15, 18 and S4; surpassing Nanjing South, with its paltry four lines.
Designers also appeared to have learned from the misery which commuters at Nanjing South experience daily, transferring between Lines 1 or 3 and Lines S1 or S7, given the 8 minute walk that entails.
At Nanjing North, metro users shall be able to reach the elevated-waiting hall vertically through multiple sets of escalators, greatly shortening transfer distance.
According to the plan, the Station’s expected long-term, annual-passenger volume shall be 36.5 million, making it the largest hub station in Jiangsu north of the Yangtze River, dethroning current position holder, Xuzhou East, to second place.
Speaking to that passenger experience, alert readers who regularly take a train in China out of any rail hub will be acutely aware of the inherit flaw that has been inherited by China’s liking for real name authentication and security checks when entering a station, and the compressing of people into a small place that is the result.
Unlike other stations all designed before such requirements were, not just put in place, but also just technically possible, Nanjing North is addressing the issue. There, a new concourse will realise a spacious area between 25-60 metres deep that can emphasise the Station’s green credentials and provide a better passenger experience from the outset of their journey.
But what, of course, everyone wants to know is when will it all be over. Zhang Yong, Deputy Minister of Planning, Land & Resources with the Jiangbei New Area Hub Office, told reporters that Nanjing North is planned to be opened for operation simultaneously with the North Riverside High Speed Railway by the end of 2027.
That gives the construction team a little less than 4 years to have it sorted. No mean feat, given that Nanjing North is set to be 637 metres long north-south, and 710 metres east-west, by some measures even bigger than Nanjing South.
