A metro-themed cultural park in Beijing, built out of construction waste, will open by the end of this year to exhibit 40 years of Beijing metro history, said an official of the Beijing Municipal Committee of Transport Thursday.
The park, covering 19 hectares in the north of Daxing District, will be free to the public and provide an entertaining yet scientifically educational venue for residents, the official said.
At the same time, the 21.8-kilometer-long Daxing Line, which is under construction, will be connected with the 29-kilometer-long Line 4, becoming the longest metro line in China and will also cross Beijing from south to north, the official said.
With an investment of ten billion yuan (about 1.5 billion U.S. dollars), the Daxing Line has been designed with cultural taste, the official said.
Nine of the 11 stations on Daxing Line will house art works, including two stone-made wall paintings, one bronze wall painting, one cloisonne wall painting as well as other art pieces.
Daxing Line will be connected with 54 bus lines. Two parking lots will be built for 400 vehicles and 28 parking lots will be built for 3,640 bicycles.
The second phase construction of the Beijing Railway Command Center started Thursday. It will serve the current metro network and the planned 19 metro lines, said Zhan Minghui, head of the center.
The first period of the center was put into use in January 2008, seven months ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games, Zhan said.
By the end of 2010, Beijing will have 14 metro lines with a length of 336 kilometers; by 2015, that number will reach 561 kilometers.
