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An airport express train line will be opened in Beijing before Olympic Games this year. I traveled to Beijing on March 27, 2008, and saw the train station at T3 of Beijing Airport.
Location of the Train Station
The train will run from Dongzhimen Station (at the northeast corner of 2nd Ring Road and connect to Subway #2 Station), and via Sanyuanqiao (where it connects to future Subway #10), and directly get to Airport T3, and T2.
The Airport Express Station at T3 (New Terminal 3) is exactly south of it. As this un-updated satellite image shows, it is the big oval at the south of it.
Outside the Train Station
The big "turtle" is the train station. The bridge connecting the terminal and the train station are the train level, and the level with the cars parking there is the ground floor. Under that are B1 and B2 parking level.
Inside the Airport Express Station
This is the new Airport Express Station. The roof is a little bit similar with the Maglev Station in Longyang Road in Shanghai, but much bigger.
The construction of the station is already completed, but they are still testing the line and it will take some time to open. BTW, the train on the track are automatic train without a driver.
After you leave the train, you can directly to go the terminal. There are four big gates at the north exit of the train station: left and right most two are for departure, and the middle two are for arrival.
The bridges are very long, so sloop is mild. The following picture is taken on the 4th floor (The Departure Level) of the station. As you can see, the far-most bridge connects the taxi drop-off area to the lower Departure Level, and the nearer-two bridge go to the Airport Express Train station.
The good thing about the Beijing Airport is, although the bridges are all pretty long and are sloops, there is a way for people to WALK through all the levels. If you imagine people flow as water, and the waterfall flows from the top to the bottom of the station:
On the bridge, via the big window, you can see the parking lot entrance and the taxi pickup area.
Lower Floor of the Train Station
At the lower floor of the train station are a big shopping center. The stores are not opened yet - pretty empty there, but I guess when the train station is officially put into use, and T3 starts to attract more passengers, these are the good place to have a shop.
B1 and B2 of the Parking Lot
As you can see from the picture above, there are some glass windows on top of the Parking Lot. They are actually the roof of the parking lot - I love this design a lot. Standing at the bottom of the parking area - B2, it is like a big in-house garden.
The B2 has not been put into use yet, so it is pretty empty. If someone put some coffee tables there and open a coffee shop, it will be great. (Although at second thought, I realized it is not possible to have a coffee shop in garage.
Posted by Jian Shuo Wang at March 29, 2008 2:34 PM
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and this link: http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20080329_beijing_airport_express_train.htm
Quite beautiful! I concurr with you about the design like the maglev in Shanghai and the precious roof like a in-house garden. Just hope it doesnt get too hot hehe!
Have you heard anything about buses coming directly from Tianjin Airport to Beijing?
I read in China Today, that the Tianjin Airport will share the huge increase in demand in the Olympics time.. What about the people who arrives there, I know you can take the train and it's great, but if you are a first-timer in China, I wonder how will they move to Beijing hehe?
Thanks for your insightful info! And great pictures!
Posted by: Claudia Frias on March 31, 2008 3:29 AMThe end terminus station of Dongzhimen Zhan and the station building on top of the San Huan Zhan have yet to be completed. From the recent outlook of their incomplete superstructure, I hope that can at least cover up the ugly metal frames before the June/July opening!
Posted by: Jet So on April 3, 2008 1:05 AMHow do you move from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3 ? Is there a connecting rail ? Any idea ? Tx.
Posted by: MinFong on April 19, 2008 6:48 PMThere is a shuttle bus operating between T2 and T3.
The airport bus from downtown (Xidan, Civil Aviation Building) goes via T3 to final station T2. Up to the traffic it takes about 50 to 90 minutes from downtown to the airport terminals.