What's to Come of the Elusive Subway Line 3?
It’s no secret that the densely-populated populated Dongba area, out by the Northeast 5th Ring Road, is in dire need of subway transportations to make peoples’ daily commutes much easier. The planned solution to this is Line 3, which, as you can tell by the number, is a subway line that's been in the works basically since the very beginning of the Beijing Subway itself. But plans for the construction of the line have had so many ups and downs, some Beijingers have been left wondering if they'll ever see it completed. So what exactly happened?
As early as 2005, the government announced the official plan for Line 3. The original route was to start from Tiancun in Haidian district to Caogezhuangbei in Chaoyang district, running 37.4 kilometers long, with 27 stations in between, making it a long-distance route stretching from the east to the west.
But the city's subway system was in its infancy and quickly became so ambitious that plans for a dozen-odd other lines took precedence. Fast-forward to the year 2016 and plans have been scrapped for the western half of the line, meaning no more Haidian. The westernmost terminal station replacing Tiancun was now Dongsishitiao, but the Caogezhuangbei remained unchanged as the terminal in the east.
By this time, the entire construction plan for subway line 3 was divided into different phases. Phase one runs for about 14 km, starting from Dongsishitiao in Dongcheng district to Dongbazhongjie in Chaoyang district, covering the western half of the entire route. The plan at that time was there would be about 9 stations, with 6 transfer stations. The grand plan back then was that the operation of the station would be in full swing by 2021. Living in that year now, we know better...
In January 2019, the big news was that phase one of the construction would not be completed until the end of 2022, further delaying the plan for a year.
At the end of 2020, the schedule for the completion of phase one was further delayed for another year. It was now estimated that the construction of phase one would not be complete until 2023. When it finally wraps, phase one will only run from Dongsishitiao to Dongfeng. But, all these years later, there is still no word on when the construction of the eastern half of the route will ever be put into the works.
At the end of April in 2021, officials said there is still not a set date on when the Subway station will finally be in completion, leaving many people wondering if the construction will be complete by 2023 as previously planned.
How will the new Subway Line 3 affect residents?
Despite numerous postponements and delays, many maintain hopes that we'll be led to the Promised Line soon enough. That would fundamentally change daily transit for many Dongba residents while also spurring commerce in an area that that local officials envision will soon become a "second Sanlitun". The new route will allow commuters to get from Dongcheng district to Chaoyang district in just a few minutes. Meanwhile, several other routes such as Line 2, Line 10, Line 14 will also connect with Line 3 to better connect and feed into the new station.
Here’s how your travel patterns could change:
If you are a bar crawler who currently resides within Dongzhimen area and on a Saturday night, you decide to venture into the Sanlitun area for your favorite hangouts, you’d be disappointed to find there is no direct route that will lead you from Dongsishitiao station to Tuanjiehu Station. But all that detour won’t happen anymore when phase 1 of Line 3 is completed, which would definitely shorten the travel time you need.
Most exciting of all, however, is the fact that Line 3 will finally place a subway station squarely within Sanlitun, dubbed Workers' Stadium Station. Passengers will even be able to exit through a tunnel into the new Taikoo Li West, which is opening this December in place of the old Yashow shopping center.
READ: New in the Neighborhood: Latest Spots in Sanlitun
Images: Weibo
