Streetcars Return to Beijing After Half-Decade Absence
The Beijing public will soon be able to access remote scenic areas in the city's west end quickly and conveniently with its new streetcar line, expected to become operational by year's end.
Test runs are currently being performed on the Western Suburban Line (西郊线 xī jiāo xiàn) that begins at Bagou Station on Line 10 and stretches westward, making stops at such famous local tourist attractions such as the Summer Palace and the Beijing Botanical Gardens.
The hybrid light transit, which is part-streetcar and part-subway, will feature a carriage system that can be lengthened to five passenger cars during times of heavy commuter volume.
The nine-kilometer-long line will mostly run above ground, and consist of six stations that allow rapid transit access to such notable sights and landmarks like the Institute of Botany of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Xiangquan roundabout, the Wan'an public cemetery, Yuquan suburban wilderness park, and the Old Summer Palace.
The streetcar line offers commuters a chance to explore Beijing's mountainous Western edge where many palaces were constructed. Nearby imperial landmarks include Jingyi Palace, Jingming Palace, Changchun Palace, and Yuanming Palace while mountains found along the streetcar's path include the "mountains" of Xiangshan, Yuquanshan, and Wanshoushan.
The Western Suburban Line is Beijing's first streetcar line to appear in modern history after the city rejected them in the late 50s in favor of trolleybuses.
After the city's very first tram system was destroyed in the Boxer Rebellion a year after it was built in 1899, it wasn't until the 1920s when foreign interests established a short streetcar line using imported technology that lasted until shortly after modern China was founded.
And yet, the streetcar comeback already began a few years ago. Just in time for the Beijing Olympics, an 845-meter-long stretch of Qianmen was refitted with rails in order to bring back into service the city's retired streetcar, this time to serve as a tourist attraction (shown below). For the princely sum of 20 yuan, tourists can go for a ride upon the ancient streetcar as it lumbered past empty stores at a speed of nine kilometers per hour.
Here's a map of the expect route of the new streetcar line:
Images: People's Daily (people.com.cn), BJNews.com.cn
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