Houston Community News >> Beijing Metro Trains are a Breeze for Chinese Olympics
4/12/2008 Beijing- Walking down 3 flights
of stairs with a strong wind blowing ferociously upwards with people
moving fast, side stepping musicians and ad hoc vendors, with a quick
stop to pay 3 Yuan, and an even quicker ticket checker pulling the stub,
a quick glance at a map for directions, and off you go on the Beijing
Metro.
Getting around the center core of Beijing on the metro subway is a breeze. There is plenty of signage in English, with lots of detailed maps. There are 3 main lines in Beijing. The number 1 red line runs mostly east and west and runes right past the large picture of Mao at Tiananmen Square. The number 2 blue line runes around the central core making 90 degree turns roughly following the wall around the city, this train also has a stop at the Beijing railway station. The number 3 orange line makes a large loop off of the blue line at the north side of the city going way out into the suburbs, unfortunately none of the trains run out to the Beijing Central Airport which is located to the northeast of the central core.
For the Beijing Olympics there is suppose to be another metro line being added, which makes sense, as the walk to the Olympic village from either the Blue line or the Orange line would be a long trek at 20 minutes plus, at a good clip. I would surmise that during the Olympics there will be additional special buses running to the metro lines.
The majority of the events will be on the north side of Beijing with another cluster out to the west of the city relatively close to the red line. The trains come very regularly roughly 5 minutes between trains. The trains all have a stop map and there is an announcement in Chinese as well as English, unfortunately the English comes when the train is at speed, and are very hard to understand, so standing close to a exit which will have a stop map is not a bad idea. Another tip would be to get on the car that is right in front of the station sign, as that car will always stop in front of the station sign, so you can read them as you go along. In Beijing there are many people that speak a little English so you should be OK even if you get spun around. With 7 million tickets being sold for the Olympic events you will have lots of company, and Iā€™m sure a good time in China.
Getting around the center core of Beijing on the metro subway is a breeze. There is plenty of signage in English, with lots of detailed maps. There are 3 main lines in Beijing. The number 1 red line runs mostly east and west and runes right past the large picture of Mao at Tiananmen Square. The number 2 blue line runes around the central core making 90 degree turns roughly following the wall around the city, this train also has a stop at the Beijing railway station. The number 3 orange line makes a large loop off of the blue line at the north side of the city going way out into the suburbs, unfortunately none of the trains run out to the Beijing Central Airport which is located to the northeast of the central core.
For the Beijing Olympics there is suppose to be another metro line being added, which makes sense, as the walk to the Olympic village from either the Blue line or the Orange line would be a long trek at 20 minutes plus, at a good clip. I would surmise that during the Olympics there will be additional special buses running to the metro lines.
The majority of the events will be on the north side of Beijing with another cluster out to the west of the city relatively close to the red line. The trains come very regularly roughly 5 minutes between trains. The trains all have a stop map and there is an announcement in Chinese as well as English, unfortunately the English comes when the train is at speed, and are very hard to understand, so standing close to a exit which will have a stop map is not a bad idea. Another tip would be to get on the car that is right in front of the station sign, as that car will always stop in front of the station sign, so you can read them as you go along. In Beijing there are many people that speak a little English so you should be OK even if you get spun around. With 7 million tickets being sold for the Olympic events you will have lots of company, and Iā€™m sure a good time in China.
(Fred Tittle has lived in holiday vacation resorts his entire life, from Aspen Colorado where he was a rock jock for KSPN FM. Waikiki in Hawaii, where he learned scuba diving, and was founder of Eco Adventures South East Asia in Cambodia. Fred's new project http://www.CheapCharliesHotels.com/ where he travels around Asia and reviews cheap hotels, discount flights & budget guesthouses accommodations, http://www.cheap-lawyers.us)