The Guangzhou Metro!

[FrozenPoints]

Hi guys,

I'm currently in GZ, China, for a while, and I'm already a frequent user of the Guangzhou Metro.

Has anyone - by chance - used it, or heard anything about it.

I have to say, it is one of the star creations alongside the Canton Tower.

Where do I start:
Wider guage - meaning far wider trains.
5 double doors to exit from.
Air Conditioning as standard.
Fairly air conditioned Metro Stations.
Stations announced in Mandarin, Cantonese and English.
'Jubliee Line'-style doors, to stop jumpers (I forgot the name of it)
A lot more entry and exit points, including one way systems.
Quite a few stations, I notice have more than 2 platforms.
Very easy interchanges.
You can walk through the entire train, just like on the Overground trains.

But I, today, experienced rush-hour, and we Brits have had it SO EASY with the Northern Line...it is hell, manic and crammed to the rim in GZ. It was incredible.

Very fast, cheap and efficent. About 35/45p (equivalent) for a single journey with a 'Yang Cheng Tong' card' or our version of the Oyster Card.

 

[flymo]

Living as I do in Hong Kong, not a million miles away, it sounds very like the MTR, (Mass Transit Railway) here.

An incredible system which works very well (usually) although our system is not as expansive as the one in GZ.

All the underground station here have platform screen doors to, as you say, prevent the odd jumper here or there and to keep the A/C in. The over ground stations are being fitted with half size doors (automatic platform gates) to also help safety.

Most (not all) interchanges are done cross-platform to ease congestion and improve passenger flow. Seems to work fairly well.

I look forward to getting up to GZ again, it has been a while. The Octopus card here (similar to Oyster but more flexible) was introduced in about 1997 and is now also usable in Shenzhen China and Macau using a double currency stored value. One day it will also be usable in GZ, maybe in a few years time.

The fares on the MTR are also fairly cheap as you mention in GZ. Here you can get from Chai Wan - right hand side of the Island line - to Tung Chung for only $21.70 (about £1.80) This is about the furthest distance you can travel in one direction. Most journeys of about 3 or 4 stations are about 40p - 50p. Not bad value and sound very similar to GZ.

I agree with the crowding situation, sometimes especially on the red line here (Tsuen Wan Line) it is very difficult to barge you way into the train but as they run about every 60-90 seconds or so during peak times, just shuffle forward to the doors and wait your turn.

Again here all on train announcements for every station are in 3 languages, Cantonese, Mandarin then English. Mandarin only appeared after 1997 and the return to the Motherland. Very unobtrusive the announcements are too.

Hope to see GZ again soon, the systems sound very similar.

 

[142094]

Does Hong Kong MTR still have the stock that was tested in North Tyneside before being shipped across, or has it been replaced?

 

[T163R]

'Jubliee Line'-style doors, to stop jumpers (I forgot the name of it)

Platform screen doors.

 

[FrozenPoints]

Living as I do in Hong Kong, not a million miles away, it sounds very like the MTR, (Mass Transit Railway) here.

An incredible system which works very well (usually) although our system is not as expansive as the one in GZ.

All the underground station here have platform screen doors to, as you say, prevent the odd jumper here or there and to keep the A/C in. The over ground stations are being fitted with half size doors (automatic platform gates) to also help safety.

Most (not all) interchanges are done cross-platform to ease congestion and improve passenger flow. Seems to work fairly well.

I look forward to getting up to GZ again, it has been a while. The Octopus card here (similar to Oyster but more flexible) was introduced in about 1997 and is now also usable in Shenzhen China and Macau using a double currency stored value. One day it will also be usable in GZ, maybe in a few years time.

The fares on the MTR are also fairly cheap as you mention in GZ. Here you can get from Chai Wan - right hand side of the Island line - to Tung Chung for only $21.70 (about £1.80) This is about the furthest distance you can travel in one direction. Most journeys of about 3 or 4 stations are about 40p - 50p. Not bad value and sound very similar to GZ.

I agree with the crowding situation, sometimes especially on the red line here (Tsuen Wan Line) it is very difficult to barge you way into the train but as they run about every 60-90 seconds or so during peak times, just shuffle forward to the doors and wait your turn.

Again here all on train announcements for every station are in 3 languages, Cantonese, Mandarin then English. Mandarin only appeared after 1997 and the return to the Motherland. Very unobtrusive the announcements are too.

Hope to see GZ again soon, the systems sound very similar.

AMAZING ISN'T IT!

Also, you can use your mobile phone underground. That is also amazing!

 

[flymo]

Does Hong Kong MTR still have the stock that was tested in North Tyneside before being shipped across, or has it been replaced?

I believe so yes although all of the old Met-Cam stock was refurbished a few years ago. The interior is slightly different as is the cab but the general appearance from the outside is still similar. New stock has come in for the later line expansions but the older stock is still plying the rails. I used to have the numbers of these units tested on the Metro line, I'll see if I can dig them out.

 

[MCR247]

Platform screen doors.

I believe the official name is Platform Edge Doors (PEDs)

 

[bb21]

Funny how something as simple as having mobile phone signals is a standard requirement for all new-builds by our Chinese counterparts, yet I wonder how long it will take before LU decides that it is cost-effective to carry out such an installation.

The rolling stocks are wider. There are three categories: A, B and C, with A being the widest and having the highest capacity. Some of the A-stocks on Shanghai Metro Line 1 have a capacity of 410 per carriage running in 8-car formations, yet they are still all jam-packed during rush hours at a frequency of every 2.5 minutes. Interestingly the capital, Beijing Metro does not have any A-stock, with B-stock being the norm, whereas elsewhere A-stocks tend to be most commonly deployed.

I believe that platform-screen doors are also becoming standard specs these days due to high suicide rates, and they must be retrofitted to existing lines over time.

Guangzhou is the third largest city in the country (behind Shanghai and Beijing) so one-way system is employed especially during rush hours to cope with the huge traffic flow.

The speed of development of metro and light-rail systems in the country is absolutely astonishing. Shanghai Metro now has the longest network in the world, comprising of 11 lines, having only opened in 1993, and with another few due to open in the next couple of years whilst most existing lines are extended. It took me the best part of two days earlier this year to cover the whole network.

 

[FrozenPoints]

Funny how something as simple as having mobile phone signals is a standard requirement for all new-builds by our Chinese counterparts, yet I wonder how long it will take before LU decides that it is cost-effective to carry out such an installation.

The rolling stocks are wider. There are three categories: A, B and C, with A being the widest and having the highest capacity. Some of the A-stocks on Shanghai Metro Line 1 have a capacity of 410 per carriage running in 8-car formations, yet they are still all jam-packed during rush hours at a frequency of every 2.5 minutes. Interestingly the capital, Beijing Metro does not have any A-stock, with B-stock being the norm, whereas elsewhere A-stocks tend to be most commonly deployed.

Thanks for your insight. That is rather facinating - in relation to the rolling stock catergories.

But you are quite right on mobile technology, it is a great achievement of the Chinese, but whether the mobile signalling has anything to do with the 'shallow' nature of the GZ Metro that it works comprehensively.

The GZ Metro itself is packed out everyday - worse than the Northern Line rush hour. It has more users per day. About 4.4m. 1.1m more than our London Underground. I would hate to be there in GZ when they had 7.8m use it in ONE day.

My only dissapointment with the GZ Metro is how the lines are slightly poorly routed. Line 4 and 8 could do with better terminus connections and cross-river routings.

However, the GERMANS are responsible for most of the construction of the GZ Metro. And they have 50 tunnel digging machines to do the work. I know someone who spearheads the engineering of future lines for the GZ Metro. I would love to get his thoughts tho, personally.

 

[flymo]

Just a little note regarding mobile signals underground, at least here in HK anyway. We pay a premium here to have your signal underground, HK$12 (about £1) per month but this is normally waived on your mobile phone bill as long as you have at least a 12 month contract. I remember talking to some British guys here when this phone signal system was being installed and they mentioned something like a 'leaky cable'. The signal strength is pretty good though.

Whatever it is it does work as the wife can find me anywhere now...:cry:

Not only in rail tunnels but road tunnels also carry radio signals, AM and FM and phone signals, in fact the only place to get no signal now is in a lift.......so far anyway.


Note to self...............must get up to GZ again someday.