Line 9 of the
Beijing Subway
The Beijing Subway is the rapid transit system of Beijing Municipality that consists of 25 lines including 20 rapid transit lines, two airport rail links, one maglev line and 2 light rail lines, and 463 stations. The rail network extends ac ...
() is a
rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
line in western
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
. The line runs from the in
Haidian District
Haidian District () is a district of the municipality of Beijing. It is mostly situated in northwestern Beijing, but also to a lesser extent in the west, where it has borders with Xicheng District and Fengtai District.
It is 431 square km in ...
to in
Fengtai District
Fengtai District () is a district of the municipality of Beijing. It lies mostly to the southwest of the city center, extending into the city's southwestern suburbs beyond the Sixth Ring Road, but also to the south and, to a smaller extent, the so ...
with 13 stations. All stations are fully underground. Line 9's color is
chartreuse.
History

In 1989, the State Council decided to build
Beijing West railway station
Beijingxi (Beijing West) railway station (), colloquially referred to as ''West Station'' (), is located in western Beijing's Fengtai District. Opened in early 1996 after three years of construction, it was the largest railway station in Asi ...
on the
Beijing-Kowloon railway. Subway planning had determined that Beijing West railway station would be the interchange between Lines
7 and 9. However, no provision for an interchange station was added in the railway station's design. The railway station was completed in 1996. 15 years later Beijing West Station was rebuilt and expanded with provisions added to the basement of the station for Lines 7 and 9. In 2002, in preparation for the
2008 Beijing Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...
, it was proposed that the first section of Line 9 should be built between Baishiqiao and Beijing West railway station (today's National Library to Beijing West railway station section). The entire length of the proposed line was 5.8 kilometers. However, the line only started construction in April 2007, with a planned opening date of 2010 and the original northern section between Baishiqiao to Beijing West Station was further delayed until 2012,
making an opening before the Olympics unlikely. In the meantime, planners were investigating the possibility of extending Line 9 northwest beyond Baishiqiao and roughly paralleling the almost complete
Line 4. However, this Baishiqiao-Wenyang Road Project would head further north to the Haidan area, terminating around the Wenyang Road (温阳路) exit of the
6th Ring Road
The 6th Ring Road () is an expressway ring road in Beijing, China which runs around the city approximately from the center of the city. The 6th Ring Road is approximately long.
The road is numbered G4501 and as such is strictly speaking co ...
competing with another proposal where Line 4's northern extension would serve the area. The extension project was would be 25.5 km long and add 13 new stations, creating a 40.7 km long Line 9. However, this project was cut back to the current terminus at Station with the remaining sections north was ultimately redesigned as neither Line 9 or Line 4 but replaced by
Line 16.
On December 31, 2011 the , nine-station southern section from Guogongzhuang to Beijing West railway station opened.
[ eijing Municipal Transportation Committee/ref> At the time the line was only connected to the ]Fangshan Line
The Fangshan Line of the Beijing Subway () is a rapid transit line in western Beijing that runs from in Fangshan District north and east to in Fengtai District. The line is . It is mainly elevated, including 10 elevated stations and 6 underground ...
, isolated from the rest of the Beijing Subway network. Passengers had to transfer to shuttle buses that connected to the main subway network to continue their journey., making the line sparsely used in 2011. The situation did not improve on April 29, 2012 when the Beijing subway exceeded a record 8 million daily riders, with the daily ridership of Line 9 being only 46,300 as it was still isolated from the rest of the network.
After then replacement Baishiqiao-Wenyang Road Project with Line 16, another proposal was made to extend Line 9 north at around 2011. This time Line 9 would be extended north forming a north south corridor just west of Line 13 with an interchange with the proposed Line 15 western extension at Xueyuan Road Station. The extension would terminate at Xi'erqi station
Xi'erqi () is an interchange station between Line 13 and the Changping Line on the Beijing Subway. The station has relocated to a new location several hundreds meters north on December 25, 2010 to ease transfer between the two lines when the ne ...
and help relieve the congestion on the western arc of Line 13 and more directly serve Tsinghua University
Tsinghua University (; abbr. THU) is a national public research university in Beijing, China. The university is funded by the Ministry of Education.
The university is a member of the C9 League, Double First Class University Plan, Projec ...
.
On December 30, 2012, the original northern section from the Beijing West railway station
Beijingxi (Beijing West) railway station (), colloquially referred to as ''West Station'' (), is located in western Beijing's Fengtai District. Opened in early 1996 after three years of construction, it was the largest railway station in Asi ...
to the entered into operation. This finally connected Line 9 and the Fangshan Line to the rest of the subway network and made all major Beijing train stations accessible by subway. The underground connections for the transfer between Line 9 and Line 1 were not completed at the opening of the Line 9 extension. Between December 2012 and December 2013, Line 9 skipped Military Museum station
Junshi Bowuguan (Military Museum) station () is an interchange station on Line 1 and Line 9 of the Beijing Subway. It located near the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution. Line 9 did not stop at this station until 21 December 2013 ...
.[(Chinese) ] Line 9's passenger traffic began to grow rapidly after the northern section went into operation. As of January 2013, the average daily passenger traffic was already three times higher than in December 2012, at 220,000 rides. The Line 1 to Line 9 transfer was completed at the Military Museum Station on December 21, 2013.
In 2013, the northern extension proposal was modified again, while still a line connecting National Library to Xi'erqi the line was now shifted to swing east of Line 13. Later, it was decided that this northern extension project is to be divided into two lines at Mingguangqiao West Station. The Southern portion of Mingguangqiao West Station to the National Library Station will still be the north extension line of Line 9. However, Mingguangqiao West Station north to Xi'erqi Station is now replaced by the southern extension of the Changping line
The Changping Line of the Beijing Subway () is a half elevated, half underground rapid transit line in northern Beijing. The line started construction in 2009. In September 2010, Construction of Phase I was completed, and was followed by three-m ...
. However, in reality during construction, only the south extension project of the Changping Line from Xi'erqi to Jimenqiao Stations actually started construction, the last remaining section of the Changping Line’s south extension to Mingguangqiao West Station and the entire northern extension section of Line 9 (Mingguangqiao West to National Library Station) was put on hold. Also, during that time it was proposed that Line 9 be extended south beyond Guogongzhuang along the west side of Daxing New Town to the Biomedical Base station in the long term, with a total length of 18 kilometers and 8 stations.
List of Stations
Through service
In 2021, it was announced that there will be some through service A through service is a concept of passenger transport that involves a vehicle travelling between lines, networks or operators on a regularly specified schedule, on which the passenger can remain on board without alighting. It may be in form of eith ...
between Line 9 and the Fangshan line. The operator is retrofitting the signal systems of both lines to achieve this. Through service is under testing and will start in 2022.
Rolling Stock
Line 9 is served by a fleet of 37 6-car DKZ33 trains built by CNR Changchun.
Gallery
File:9号线六里桥站站台.JPG, Liuliqiao station platform
File:六里桥站站厅.JPG, Liuliqiao station concourse
File:郭公庄站站台.JPG, Guogongzhuang station platform
File:Beijing Subway Line 9 Arriving at Military Museum Station.webm, a train arriving at Military Museum station
References
{{Beijing Subway Station
, line9=yes
Beijing Subway lines
Articles containing video clips
Railway lines opened in 2011
2011 establishments in China
750 V DC railway electrification