The trial western section of Beijing's first urban railway was put
into operation yesterday.
Connecting Huilongguan in the north and Xizhimen, at the
western-northern juncture of the Second Ring Road, the trial
section of the No 13 urban railway is expected to open to traffic
on September 28. Testing will last until September 25.
Pulled by locomotives, a total of 30 electrical trains in 10 groups
underwent testing at Huilongguan yesterday.
After equipment testing, the trains will be fully trialed with
electricity.
The 24-day trial will test tracks and signaling , according to the
Beijing Urban Railway Company.
More than 1,000 railway staff and the first batch of 120 drivers
have stated work.
Officials with the urban railway company yesterday warned residents
of the electrical hazards associated with the tracks and the
experiments.
The first 30 trains were chosen from those running on the No 1 and
No 2 underground railway after a series of changes to windows to
accord with sunny, rainy and windy weather.
To
reduce the noise caused by the trains, installation was laid at
some sections of the railway.
It
is the first time the technique has been used in China, according
to the railway company.
The second batch of trains is expected to be put into use by
mid-December.
The trains are expected to be able to hit a maximum of 80
kilometers per hour and the average speed will be just over 41
kilometers per hour.
As
the longest urban railway route in China, the U-shaped No 13 line
covers a distance of 40.8 kilometers, connecting the north of the
capital and the two communications hubs of Xizhimen and Dongzhimen
in the west and east.
According to a newly adopted local railway transportation layout,
the urban railway will cover 300 kilometers in the future after
increasing by 40 kilometers per year. The Beijing municipal
government announced it has invested 10 billion yuan (US$1.2
billion) in urban railway construction since the start of the
year.
(China
Daily September 3, 2002)