Three Subway Lines Opened All Together in the New Year

With the brand-new subway train pulling in slowly, the UCD-constructed New Shougang Station for Beijing Subway Line 11 (Olympic Winter Games branch line), the Lize Business District Station of Line 14 and the Jiahuihu Station of Line 17 have all been turned over for trial operation ahead of time, marking the goal of ensuring the opening of “Three Subway Lines” with greatest effort being realized in an all-around way. In 2021, faced with complicated market environments and arduous tasks to perform the contracts, UCD grasped the nettle and played safe conducting epidemic prevention and control in a scientific way and facilitating construction and production with overall planning. With care, guidance and assistance provided by leaders at all levels, UCD made a glaring answer ahead of time in the first year of the “14th Five-year Plan” period.

Clash of Snowflakes and Steel—— New Shougang Station for Line 11(Olympic Winter Games branch line)

Beijing Subway Line 11 (Olympic Winter Games branch line) is the closest subway line to the Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee and the Big Air Shougang, directly serving Olympic Winter Games. With a total length of 337 meters, the New Shougang Station is the longest station in the west section of Subway Line 11. With three levels underground in all, the underground Level 2 and Level 3 of the station are platforms and halls and the underground Level 1 integrates with the surroundings. When getting off, passengers can ride the elevators to enter the pedestrian walks to the commercial districts, offering convenient traffic services for Olympic Winter Games and residents nearby. With the subway lines opened, subway trains in areas of the games in Beijing can reach all sports venues, constituting a green and low-carbon transportation system to satisfy the needs of travel during and after the Winter Olympic sports games and substantially enhancing the transport capacity between Beijing Winter Olympics Organizing Committee and Shougang Park.

The construction of the No. 03 bidding project of Subway Line 11 was fully started in December 2019, when COVID-19 occurred. While “focusing on epidemic prevention and control on one hand and centering on construction and production on the other”, The project team did all they could to speed up the construction, tap the potentials and improve efficiency to perform the contracts with fine quality and fulfilled all targets at all links as scheduled. On Nov. 27, 2020, the capping of the major structure was completed 3 days ahead of schedule, becoming the first station with the capping of its major structure done in the west section of Line 11; the tunnels were opened between sections at the end of April, 2021; equipment installation and refined decorations were all completed in November, 2021; acceptance check passed on Dec.17, 2021. Now the lines have been all opened to traffic.

The New Shougang Station is situated in the old factory area. To carry historical features on, the station has been decorated more“industrially”, with no furred ceiling installed and columns being made in concrete of primary color to look simple and splendid. 24 projection screens have been installed at the platforms to repeatedly air the videos of Olympic winter games and, in the meantime, part of the walls and eaves feature the element of ice and snow. Snowflake sculpts make the station look more active on the whole. The decorated station waits silently for passengers to come.

“Five-Line Transfer”—— Lize Business District Station for Line 14

Being a three-leveled underground island-style station, Lize Business District Station for Line 14 is situated at the core area of the planned Lize Business District and is a cross-transfer subway station for Line 14 and Line 16, adjoining closely several business centers and plazas and being an important transportation hub of the Lize Business District. With a total area of 25000 square meters, there is a transfer point that can link Subway Line 16 after opening of the station and a spectacular “Five-Line Transfer” will take shape after all lines nearby are connected to become a “traffic artery” for Lize Business District and to open up a new era for the development of Lize Business District into the second largest finance street of Beijing.

Due to readjustment of the Lize Business District planning for several times, No.05 Tender Project of Line 14, though construction of which started since the beginning of 2011, was put under construction in an all-round way until February of 2021. To catch up with “Five-Line Transfer” construction, with great attention paid by municipal and district governments and under the energetic support of group companies at two levels, UCD and the project team worked strenuously with concerted effort and set off an upsurge of diligent work, realizing the seemingly impossible project nodes in only 11 effective construction months. Earth excavation for the station started and reached bottom on Mar. 30, tunnels between sections were opened through on April 30, steel-structured Y-shaped columns were hoisted and erected on May 10, aping of the major structure was completed 2 days ahead of time on May 28, accessory structure and electromechanical equipment were installed and decoration of the station was completed in November, and acceptance check passed on Dec. 3. Now the station has been opened to traffic.

The rarely seen large steel column pieces of big span and excess weight were used for the construction of Lize Business District Station, with 21 Y-shaped steel-structure columns erected and each column weighing more than 70 tons. Meticulousness and accuracy were a must for hoisting and installing the columns to ensure the working procedures are conducted accurately. Halls and platforms of Lize Business District Station are made in a courtyard style with space made flexible and connected. The transfer hall has been made into a hall of enlarged station and roof light has been set for municipal greenbelt areas, and sunlight can be brought into the space of platforms to match the ground landscape, increasing the experience of comfort for passengers.

“New” Management on the Construction Site —— Jiahuihu Station for Line 17

The southern section of Beijing Subway Line 17 is a“big station, fast run and high throughput”rail transit line connecting important passenger flow distribution points in the southeast of the city and will send passengers of the southeast area to central urban area rapidly after it has been built. Among others, residents of Ciqu District can reach Shilihe by Line 17 in only 18 minutes, 30 minutes less than previous average travel time, thus effectively easing the passenger transport pressure on Beijing Subway Lines 5 and 10 and enhancing the service functions of the rail transit network in the southeast of Beijing.

Construction of No.19 section of Subway Line 17 started in June, 2017 and the capping of the major structure was completed in January, 2019 and the shield double-line tunnel was opened in November,2019, being the first section of the whole line with its major structures of the station and intervals completed. The length of the section between Jiahuihu Station and the turn-back line behind the station reaches 793 meters, and the project department did not wait or rely on others but overcame loads of difficulties such as extreme weather conditions, narrow construction site and so on, and won the follow-up construction task of the 24-bid integrated project of Line 17 for UCD with high-quality performance. At present, the integrated construction project has been checked and accepted successfully and has been opened to traffic.

The project team introduced property management into the construction of rail transit projects for the first time, enabling life appeals of industrial workers to be handled immediately and improving work efficiency substantially. Workers could live and eat happily and then devote their best effort to project construction, feeling the warmth of “home” when working far away from home. In tense yet enriched construction work, the project department also undertook the project of renovating the metal roof of Daotian Station of Section 03 of Fangshan line and completed the project in only three months and passed acceptance check. Daotian Station was the first station renovated the fastest among the then 9 stations needing renovation in Beijing, winning wide acclaim among proprietors and all parties. It is reported that Jiahuihu Station, section and turn-back line are of integrated design, which can realize integrated transfer to surrounding business districts, sunk plazas and parking lots after completion. Red, gray and white colors have been chosen for the station as a whole, and the paying area and non-paying area are distinguished by different color blocks, showing a fashionable and bright visual feeling on the whole.

In addition, Suzhou Subway Line 5 (Xingbo Street Station) and Nanjing-Jurong Intercity Rail Transit Line (Dongjiao Township Station, Guquan Station and Ape Man Cave Station), which were undertaken by UCD, have been put into operation on June 28 and December 28, 2021 respectively.