Beijing approves new subway line

BEIJING, Feb. 4 (Chinese media) -- The Beijing municipal government has approved

the construction of subway Line 15, which is expected to start within the year.

The approval was confirmed by a document, dated Tuesday and posted at the

website of the Beijing Municipal Committee of Urban Planning (BMCUP).

By the approved plan, Line 15 will take a west-east orientation and runs

45.7 kilometers, of which 32 km will be beneath the ground.

Line 15 will be between northern Ring Road 4 and 5. It will start from

Xiyuan in Haidian District and end at east of Chaobai River in Shunyi District

in the eastern suburbs. There will be 21 stops.

It will be built in two stages. The east section of the subway between

Wangjing West Stop and Hedong Stop in Shunyi will be built first.

Line 15 will be finished in 2015.

When it is finished, Line 15 will help alleviate transport pressure on

areas around the Olympic Common Domain, where famed Bird's Nest or National

Stadium and the Water Cube or National Aquatic Center are clustered, said BMCUP

in the document.

Other details about Line 15, such as the cost and term, are not available

at the moment.

Beijing has 200 km of subways in service, most of which are in the northern

part of the city.

It is determined to vigorously expand track transport in the years to come

and is hoping to form a subway network supported by 19 separate lines totaling

561 km by 2015.

The city's spending on infrastructure projects alone will top 160 billion

yuan (about 23.53 billion U.S. dollars) this year, and Line 15 is included in

the spending list, said Liu Yinchun, deputy chief of the municipal committee of

development and reform in January.

By 2015, a total of 8.8 million daily travels, or one fourth of the total

journeys made by residents in downtown areas, will be undertaken by metro,

comparing to 3.8 million daily travels at present.

The national capital will spend 51.8 billion yuan (about 7.62 billion U.S.

dollars) in track transport development this year, according to statistics

disclosed by the municipal committee of development and reform.

Line 4, a north-to-south subway under construction, is expected to be

completed and put into service this year. This will increase the length of

Beijing's subway in service to 230 km, and this mileage will go up to 300 km by

2010.