Line 7 (Beijing Subway)


Line 7 of the Beijing Subway is a rapid transit line in Beijing. It runs parallel and to the south of Line 1 and Batong line, from the Beijing West railway station in Fengtai District to in Tongzhou District. Like Line 6, Line 7 provides additional relief to the overcapacity Line 1 adding another east-west trunk line to the Beijing Subway network.

Description

Line 7 has 30 stations, currently 29 stations are opened.
The line uses 8-car Type B trains.
The line was originally slated to have 15 stations, from the Beijing West railway station to Baiziwan. A revised plan approved by the Planning Committee of the Beijing Municipal government called for 21 stations over, ending in Jiaohuachang.

Stations

List of stations from west to east.

Planning

Line 6 was originally conceived in 1973 as a "pan-handle" shaped route incorporating the central sections of today's Lines 6 and 7. In 1983 Line 6 was dissolved into two distinct lines. The section under Guang'anmen, Luomashi, Zhushikou and Guangqumen Streets and the "handle" branch to Fengtai became Line 7. The rest of the loop with a new south eastern extension to what was at the time the Beijing Jiaohuachang complex became Line 6. Line 7 was later revised westward to terminate at a new major railway station called Beijing West railway station and Line 9 taking over servicing Fengtai. When Beijing West railway station started construction in the early 1990s space was set aside for a subway station allowing Cross-platform interchange for the future Lines 7 and 9. By 1993 the planned section of Line 6 heading to Coking Plant complex was revised as an eastern extension of Line 7, forming the alignment built today.
In 2013, planners revised the design of Line 7 from using the standard 6 car trains to 8 car trains after performing a detailed transport study of the Fatou area. Fatou's population projections were upgraded from 100,000 to 220,000 people and be a significant employment hub in the future. Planners decided that 6 cars trains would have insufficient capacity for the new demand projections. Line 7 was originally planned to use 1500 V DC overhead lines to power the longer subway trains. However, the already completed platforms at Beijing West railway station assumed the line would use a 750 V DC 3rd rail system like Beijing's legacy subway lines and built with vertical clearance for such. The line ultimately used a 1500 V DC 3rd rail system as a compromise.

History

Phase 1

Construction began in January 2010. It started test runs in September 2014 with full operation beginning on December 28, 2014.

Eastern extension (Phase 2)

The eastern extension runs through Chaoyang and Tongzhou Districts. The extension adds 9 new stations and of new line. The extension is fully underground. It was opened on December 28th, 2019.

Timeline