Please note: The Beijing Suburban Railway system is covered separately.
Fares: CNY 2 for all city lines; CNY 25 for the Airport Express.
Beijing uses the Yikatong Card.
Current lines in service (lines to open in late 2011 are shown in italics):
- Line 1: Pingguoyuan – Sihui East
- Line 2: Xizhimen – Dongzhimen – Qianmen – Xizhimen (Loop)
- Line 4: Anheqiao North – Gongyixiqiao
- Line 5: Tiantongyuan North – Songjiazhuang
- Line 8: Beitucheng – Huilongguan Dongdajie
- Line 9: Guogongzhuang – Beijing West Railway Station
- Line 10: Bagou – Jinsong
- Line 13: Xizhimen – Huilongguan – Huoying – Dongzhimen (Semi-Loop)
- Line 15: Wangjing West – Houshayu – Fengbo
- Batong Line: Sihui – Tuqiao
- Changping Line: Xi’erqi – Nanshao
- Daxing Line: Gongyixiqiao – Xin’gong – Tiangongyuan
- Fangshan Line: Guogongzhuang – Dabaotai – Suzhuang
- Yizhuang Line: Songjiazhuang – Ciqu (– Yizhuang Railway Station)
- Airport Express: Dongzhimen – Beijing Capital International Airport
IN THE WORKS
The Beijing Subway is expected to be the world’s longest mass transit system by around 2015, when current blueprints foresee its growth to 666 km. 2020 estimates predict mileage at around, or in excess of, 1,000 km. (For those who’ve suffered the average Beijing traffic jam, this news just can’t come soon enough, we guess!)
Opening 2012
- Line 6: Haidian Wuluju – Caofang
- Line 8: Beitucheng – National Art Museum
- Line 9: National Library – Beijing West Railway Station
- Line 10: Bagou – Gongzhufen – Songjiazhuang – Jinsong
Opening 2015
- Line 6: Pingguoyuan – Haidian Wuluju and Caofang – Dongxiaoying
- Line 7: Beijing West Railway Station – Coking Plant
- Line 8: Zhuxinzhuang – Huilongguan Dongdajie and National Art Museum – Wufutang
- Line 14: Zhangguozhuang – Lize Business District – Shan’gezhuang
- Line 15: Qinghuadonglu – Beishatan – Wangjing West
- Line 16: Wanping – Suzhoujie
- Changping Line: Xi’erqi – Ming Tombs Scenic Area
- Haidian Mountain Line: Bei’anhe – Suzhoujie
- Mentougou Line: Pingguoyuan – Shimenying
- Yanfang Line: Suzhuang – Yanhua
- Daxing Airport Line: Beijing South Railway Station – Beijing Daxing International Airport
Opening 2020
(Partial plans only; some lines might probably open somewhat beyond this date)
- Line 3: Tiancun – Xisi and National Art Museum – Jinzhan East
- Line 11: Jin’anqiao – Guanyintang
- Line 12: Sijiqingqiao – Jiuxianqiao Electronics City
- Line 17: Shaoyaoju – Future Science Park (with option of branch link to Beiya Gardens)
- Line 18: Zhengchangzhuang – Xitaipingzhuang
There is also a likely extra line that will go through the centre of the Beijing CBD (some plans label this as another “Line 17″). Also likely is at least one Express Subway line (Line 1). Additionally, some pre-reserved stations on Line 13 might enter use by this time (or after this time). Up to seven suburban railways will also likely open by this time.
As China’s first-ever Metro / Subway system, the Beijing Subway got started in the 1960s. A quick cut-and-cover marathon over four years saw the network opened on 1 October 1969, albeit in secrecy, as Mao and Co were fearful that the “revisionist-reactionary” Soviets were about to flatten the Chinese capital (which is why the Subway was there in the first place). The first-ever line, a present-day amalgamation of Line 2 (South) and Line 1 (West), took riders — no foreigners back then (unless you were part of an official, invited group of international visitors) — from the Beijing Railway Station to the western suburbs in Shijingshan.
When Deng replaced Mao as the “big leader” in the 1980s, the Subway was expanded so that much of the northern half of what’s now the 2nd Ring Road got Subway services. In the 1990s, Line 1 was extended further to the eastern then-suburbs (now the CBD). But it was the IOC’s OK-ing of Beijing’s 2008 Games candidacy that contributed to the creation of one of the world’s largest Subway systems in ever. In late 2002 and early 2003, Line 13 opened up in two parts; the Batong extension to Line 1 opened in late 2003. 2007 saw a new north-south Line 5; 2008, Lines 8 (Phase 1), 10 (Phase 1) and the Airport Express; 2009, Line 4; and a record-breaking 5 new lines (Line 15 and the Changping, Fangshan, Yizhuang Lines and the Daxing extension to Line 4) in late 2010. Late 2011 will see a Line 8 extension to Huilongguan, Line 9 from Guogongzhuang to the Beijing West Railway Station, and Line 15 further up into central Shunyi.
It’s a little surreal to imagine the Beijing Subway of the year 2015. Even the most conservative plans envision 561 km of Subways; greater-still plans imagine greater plans of 700 km that year and up to 1,000 km in 2020. We’re leaving Shanghai and London in the dust as the underground dragon relieves this chronically jammed capital above ground. We’re also making this city greener — and getting you from A to B faster.
Sources: Former Beijingology Network sites, Beijing city government data, and Ditiezu online metro community