No More Trains Through Wudaokou: 106-Year-Old Qinghuayuan Railway Station to Close Oct 31

Built in 1910, Qinghuayuan Railway Station was one stop on the railway line between Beijing and Zhangjiakou, the first ever railway in China. The current station, which was built in the 1950s, is 500 meters away from the original location. With the development of the expanding railway, it will be closed on October 31, and with it the closure of the railway that currently passes through the heart of Wudaokou.  

Qinghuayuan Railway Station sits four kilometers away from Beijing North Railway Station and close to the east gate of Tsinghua University. The No. 4471 train, which stops at Qinghuayuan at 9.19am for 22 minutes before heading to Chengde and belongs to the slowest kind of trains in China, the entire 325 kilometer journey taking 10 hours and costs RMB 25. The S2 train also uses the same tracks and come back and forth from the Badaling section of the Great Wall 26 times a day.

According to People.cn, after the opening of Beijing to Zhangjiakou railway, Qinghuayuan Railway Station will close, but the old building will remain. In the meantime, after the rearrangement of the railway lines, no train will pass through Wudaokou, a familiar sight to anyone passing through the heart of the student area. Waiting to cross the busy intersection, sirens blaring, will soon become a distant memory. 

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Photos: Sohu