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Subway construction started in China`s capital in 1965. The first stretch, which opened between the city`s railway station and Pingguoyuan, included today`s western branch of Line 1 and the southern part of Line 2. In 1987, the circular line was finished (16 km) and both lines started operating separately. In the 1990`s an eastern extension of Line 1 was built, the so-called Fu Ba Line, to Sihuidong (formerly shown as BA Wang Fan) opened for trial in Oct. 1999 for the People`s Republic`s 50th anniversary. The new section (13.5 km) was eventually connected to the western section of Line 1 on 24 June 2000 which had been upgraded to ATO operation. Now there are talks about a further extension to the east. The entire Line 1 from Pingguoyuan to Sihuidong is now 38 km long and provides transfer to Ring Line 2 twice, at Fuxingmen and at Jianguomen. Ring Line 2 is 16 km, so the total network operating in 2000 is 54 km. Most stations have central platforms and are 118m long, but only 10 have escalators. 4 or 6-car-trains are used, which are equipped with acoustic station announcement. For future extensions of the network (8 lines) some stations have already been built as transfer stations: Xizhimen, Dongsishitiao, Jianguomen, Yonghegong and Jishuitan. Construction of "CityRail" (Line 13 in the overall "rapid transit" planning) started in December 1999. The semicircular line with 16 stations runs from Xizhimen to Dongzhimen (both are stations on the circle Line 2). The 40.8 km line is mainly above ground, either elevated (7.7 km) or at grade (30.3km). After the western section (20.6km) went into operation on 28 Sept. 2002, the eastern section will be opened in January 2003.
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