Shanghai Metro People’s Square Station is the first transition station in Shanghai Metro System. Once upon a time, there is only one metro line in Shanghai when I arrived in this city, and it took many years for the Metro Line #2 to be constructed and opened. Then the Long Transition Tunnel of the Metro #1 and #2 became the memories of many people – it was really long.

Now, with the opening of Metro Line #8 and the new transition hall, this is history. Look at the brand new Metro Station in People’s Square. Again, I am reporting through photos:

From Metro Line #8

From the Metro Line #8 platform, clear directions hangs on the top of the elevator entrance. The Metro Line #8 is much cleaner than Metro Line #1 and #2 anyway.

© Jian Shuo Wang

Look at the lovely sign – [1] and [2]

 
© Jian Shuo Wang

The Transition Hall

This is the transition hall. It is pretty high. Most people stay in the bottom of the hall. For those people who want to exit, climb high to get to the ground floor.

This is the view of the transition hall.  The right of the red-lined area is paying-area – passengers with tickets, and on the left is out of the station.

Look at this: This is pretty amazing. Instead of just one elevator, they have 3 elevators moving people from the bottom of the transition hall into the deeper hall into the earth.

 
© Jian Shuo Wang

  
© Jian Shuo Wang

There are another three moving people up.

© Jian Shuo Wang

Closing of the Long Transition Tunnel

With the new transition hall, the old Long Transition Tunnel was closed. Can you imagine that before, all the traffic from #1 to #2 comes out of this long transition tunnel – just some small closed gate?

© Jian Shuo Wang

Sky in the Transition Hall

Below is the roof of the transition hall – with sky visible.

 
© Jian Shuo Wang

Ground Signs

Outside the stations, direction signs have been updated to have the three lines there.

© Jian Shuo Wang

New Control Center of Metro Line #8

© Jian Shuo Wang

New Tunnel from Metro Line #8 to Raffles City.  

© Jian Shuo Wang

Below is the old tunnel from Line #1 and #2. This one and the above one are parallel. If I were you, I will try to use the tunnel for Metro #8.

 
© Jian Shuo Wang

At the end of the tunnel, there are three directions – Line #1, Line #2, and Line #8.

 
© Jian Shuo Wang

© Jian Shuo Wang

Above is the Line #1, and below is Line #8 Hall. Obviously, the newer one is better, cleaner with fewer people, although they are just one wall in between, with many gates on the wall.

© Jian Shuo Wang

Below is the complicated transition map that I don’t think anyone can really understand. It seems very high-tech though.

 
Photograph by Jian Shuo Wang

Conclusion

People’s Square Station is not my favorite one – my favorite transition station is Metro Century Avenue Station, and South Xizang Rd. Station. However, it is maybe the most complicated station. I am happy that it is finally transformed to be a much better station than before. I complained a lot about the Long Transition Tunnel – the big curve in the diagram blog linking top floor, to the bottom floor, until I saw the transition plan between Line #2 and Line #13 in Beijing. Now, with the close of the long tunnel, I don’t complain at all.

One and half year ago, I posted Century Ave Station Opens on Oct 28. In that post, I described how the future of the Century Avenue Station will look like when it is fully completed. Below is the diagram I used:

The Line #6 goes on the top at B1 level. Line #2, and Line #4 go in the B2 level, cross the Line #6. Line #9 (partly opened on December 29, 2007) will run deeper on level B3. After one and half years, the station is finally ready, and I went there to send the first hand report to my readers.

The Station Diagram

Below is a more professional diagram of Metro Line #6, #2, and #4.

The Relationship of the Lines

Below is the Line #6.

The train is running on the left, and on the right are three big hallway leading to 3 different lines. The photo on the left shows the glass gates, and on the right shows the hallways. On the right photo, you can only see one, but there are two other in the distance.

This is how the hallway looks like looking from the glass doors.

The two hallways leads to two different lines. You may notice that the ceiling of the lines are painted the same color as the identification color of the corresponding lines. I love this design very much. The best design is the design that doesn’t require directions or signs.

Above: the ceiling of the entrance.
Below: the direction to the transition lines.

It is pretty clear, isn’t it?

Future Expansion

Just like the other tunnels, the third one leading to Metro Line #9 will open when the Line #9 is ready. Now it is closed by some big rolling gates.

Interested what’s behind the gate? Here you are:

Transition from Line #2, #4 to #6?

Here is how it looks like for passengers who want to transit from #2, #4 to #6.

Below is the photo taken from the end of the elevator. On this photo, you can see the platforms of both Line #2 and Line #6. The top rail is for #6, and the below rail is for #2.

Getting up to B1 using the elevator, and you are only about 10 steps away from the line #6. Pretty efficient.

When there are many people, the transition looks like this:

Two Sides of the Rail

Metro Line #6 Century Avenue Station is maybe the only underground Metro Station that have platforms for the two direction arranged on different side of the rail. All the other underground stations put the platform in the middle and two railways on the opposite sides.

This brings some challenge for passengers – if they arrived at the wrong side, they have to get back to the platform of either line #2, or line #4, and the get to the Line #6 using the elevators and stairs on the other side.

Model of the Station

In People’s Square Station, I found out a model of the Century Avenue Station.

Conclusion

In terms of convenience of transition and clarify of the design, this is the best designed stations in Shanghai. Compared to the "short transition path" and the "long transition path", this is a very big improvement. This station will also be the largest transition station (4 lines) in near future.

Welcome to this brand new station!

There are some changes to the Metro Line #2.

1. The Dongfang Road Station 东方路站 was renamed as Centuary Park Ave. Station 世纪大道站, and was reopened this Monday. Today when I pass by the station, I found it already very crowded – looks like another People’s Square station. It IS bigger than People’s Square station in the plan.

2. Middle Henan Road Station 河南中路站 will be renamed as East Nanjing Road Station 南京东路站. This morning, the broadcast in Metro train has been changed but all the signs and logos on the platform were not changed yet.

3. Shimen No. 1 Road Station 石门一路站 will be renamed as West Nanjing Road Station 南京西路站.

That is the update for now…

Shanghai Metro Centuary Ave Station will reopen on October 28, 2006. It was named Dong Fang Road Station before, and is the transition station for Metro Line #2 (already in operation), #4 (already in operation), #6 (will be completed soon) and #9.

The 4 lines will be arranged on three layers.

This is the first 4 line hub for Shanghai Metro. In 2010, there are other 15 3-line hubs in Shanghai Metro. I am an engering kind of person, and I will do some research to find out how the lines get connected together.

The station was closed about one year ago. It is nice that it finally completes. I am eager to go and have a look on the day it opens.

Here is a diagram I draw according to the text description of news report. It shows how the four lines transit with each other. Please note: This is just my own imagination, and may be totally wrong.

© Jian Shuo Wang

Future of Shanghai Metro

Now, there are 168 metro stations under construction concurrently in Shanghai, and there will be 300 metro stations in Shanghai. When I arrived in Shanghai 10 years ago, there were only 12. The subway lines will extend from 100+ km to around 400 km. In 2010, in urban area of Shanghai, on average there will be metro station within 600 meters of walking distance.

Then the density of Metro station will be the same as Tokyo and Paris.

Map of the Centuary Ave Station

Oh. Check out the rush hour of Metro Line #2:

Image in courtesy of Liuzhijian. I guess I have the permission to reproduce it here, isn’t it Zhijian?

More pictures of the Metro Line #2 can be found at Liuzhijian’s blog – Do You Take Metro to Work – Rush Hours at Metro Line #2

I also took photo of Many People in Metro.

MSN Messenger Virus

It is said there is a new MSN Messenger Virus spreading quickly in China. It will send out this file to all contacts on MSN Messenger. Be warned of this kind of virus.

Sending SMS in MSN Messenger

I also found a new MSN Messenger Addon MSNOK to send SMS (Short Message System). It is not free – 0.1 RMB per SMS. Other tools to send free SMS include Netease Popo, Yahoo! Messenger. (All Chinese site and software)

Font Changed Back

After switching to bigger font for exactly one month (proposed on Sept 10 and switched on Sept 11), I finally changed the look and feel back to its original view based on reader comments. It is nice to try new things but it is also right to roll back to the old status. In case I miss this version later, let me archive the file here:

Downloadjianshuowangstyle.css