Located on the coast in the mid south of Guangdong Province, Shenzhen city borders Daya Gulf in the east, the Pearl river in the west, Dongguan City and Huizhou City in the north and across the river is Hong Kong Special Administration District in the south. Its total area covers 2,020km². A typical belt-shaped city, its special economic zone, covering 327.5 km², extends 49km from east to west with 7km average width from north to south.
Building began in Shenzhen in 1979 and its economic zone in 1980. Following 20 years’ construction, it has been developed from a village, which could be described as a small frontier town, into a modern city of the first order. Total population amounted to 4.05M at the end of 1999.
Planning the system
Because of its rapid social and economic development, an urban transport system of high standard is much needed in Shenzhen. Following discussion, it was decided that a Metro and an LRT (light rail transport) with a large transport capacity should be the backbone of an urban public transport system. Preliminary planning for the LRT was made in 1990. The document, Overall Plan for the Passenger Transport Rail Transit Network of Shenzhen City, was drafted in 1994 and was included in the Overall Urban Plan for Shenzhen City (1996-2010).
The passenger rail transport network in the long term will consist of nine lines, among them three existing lines – Guangzhou-Shenzhen, Pingnan, and Pingyan railways – and six Metro and LRT lines to be constructed. Total length of these will be about 350km. They include:
Two lines are number one priority: Metro Line One, 38km long, and Metro Line Four, which is 26km long. The Shenzhen metro project, phase 1, consists of the eastern section of Line One and southern section of Line Four.
Luohu Station on Line One and Huanggang Station on Line Four are interchange points connecting the Jiulong-Guangzhou railway and the West railway in Hong Kong. There are 18 stations including 17 underground and one at ground level. Located from east to west along the eastern section of Line One, these are: Luohu, Guomao, Laojie, Great Theatre, Scientific Hall, Tianhong, Gangxia, Jintian, Yitian, Xiangmihu, Chegongmiao, Zhuzilin and Exhibition Centre. Stations located from south to north along the southern section of Line Four are: Guanggang, Fumin, Jintian, Shuijingdao and Culture Centre. Jintian Station is the interchange point of Line One and Line Four.
In the first phase, Line One will extend from Luohu to Xiangmihu in a loop operation and similarly, Line Four from Huanggang to Shuijingdao. Line One and Line Four interchange at Jintian Station.
In the short and long term, Line One will be operated in two loops – Luohu to Nantou inspection station and Luohu to Shenzhen international airport.
In the short term, Line Four will operate in one loop from Huanggang to Meilin Inspection Station. But in the long term it will be is operated in two loops – Huanggang to Meilin Inspection Station and Huanggang to Guanlan.
Metro project phase 1
The main line of the Shenzhen metro project, phase 1, will be 19.468km in doubletrack length. The main line section for Line One is the eastern section, some 14.989km long. And another 4.479km section will be built as the southern section of Line Four. A single-track link line connecting Line One and Line Four will be 0.447km long. The preliminary design indicates a total budget of 10.585bn RMB ($1.28bn), at an average spend of 0.544bn RMB/km. Seventy per cent of investment is to be financed by Shenzhen Fiscal Reserve; the rest will be from domestic bank loans.
The main line consists of double tracks with a gauge of 1, 435mm. The curvature radius of the main line is 300m; minimum curvature radius of the auxiliary line is 200m.
The maximum grade of the main line in the section is 30 ‰, and that of the auxiliary Line 40 ‰. The minimum grade auxiliary of the underground section is normally 3 ‰ and in case of difficulty 2 ‰.
The main line will have a 60kg/m rail, and the car depot 50kg/m rail. Lines inside tunnels will have a monolithic roadbed, external at grade ground lines, a crushed stone roadbed. The main line, turnaround line and parking line will have a No. 9 switch of 60kg/m rail and the car depot a No. 7 switch of 50kg/ m rail.
The length of station platforms is to be 140m. Width of island platforms will be over 10m and the width of side platforms without columns, over 3.5m. The platform width beyond the columns of side platforms will be over 2m. Width of the platform within the column will be over 3m.
Passenger flow
Based on an analysis report, passenger flow for the Shenzhen metro project, phase 1 is predicted as in Table One. Each train will consist of six cars – four motor cars and two coaches; train length is 140m. Passenger numbers for each train are forecast at 1,920. In the long term line capacity will be 30 pairs/ hour and passenger capacity in the long term will be 550 – 1,000 people in one direction in a peak hour.
Main equipment phase 1
Shenzhen metro project, phase 1 is a show project for China in its use of metro cars and equipment. The objective of the system is: to ensure safe and reliable operation, advanced and rational performance, a comprehensive technical level near or up to international standards, and a manufacturing localisation rate of 70%. The whole operation will have equipment for signals, communication, power supply, environmental ventilation, drainage and water supply, fire fighting, escalators and lifts. There will be an operation control centre (OCC).
The highest car speed will be 80km/h using traction powered by electrical motor car. The traction control system is driven by the three-phase squirrel-cage asynchronous traction motor with speed modulated by advanced a/c voltage control.
The coach with the cab is 24.4m long, the motor car without cab, 22.8m long and the maximum width of the drum car body is 3.1m and car height 3.8m. Power supply is from a DC 1500V elevated catenary.
An ATC (automatic train control) system has been adopted comprising subsystems of ATS (automatic train supervision), ATP (automatic train protection) and ATO (automatic train operation). The interstation will use a digital audio frequency non-insulated track circuit. Minimum running interval is designed to be 90 seconds, the operation interval of the train, 120 seconds.
Communications network
A dedicated public communications network using an ISDN program control exchange machine is arranged for the operation control centre. An optical cable network has been adopted to transmit data to and from OCC and stations. The communication system consists of a public communication subsystem, dedicated communication, radio communication, wired broadcast, TV supervision, clock, power and communication centralised maintenance management.
Tickets will be charged by journey and by the time taken. An automatic fare collection system is adopted.
Environmental controls
A screen door system has been adopted, a type of air-conditioning/mechanical ventilation for the stations. A piston/mechanical ventilation type has been adopted for section tunnels.
In all stations and the OCC, advanced automated systems for building management will be adopted to centralise the supervision of equipment for environmental control, drainage and water supply, lighting and escalators into a comprehensive system. A computer system will be adopted for overall management.
A similar but separate system will be used in stations, section tunnels, car depots (including comprehensive maintenance base), OCC block and all buildings connected with the metro operation.
An escalator will be installed at the station entrances, the mezzanine and platforms. Lifts for the disabled and working staff will be in all stations.
Fire fighting will consist of a building fire-fighting system, gas extinguishing system and portable extinguisher. The fire fighting system for the whole line has been designed so that a fire is contained in one area within a given time.
Water supply will come from the tap water supply of Shenzhen city because no secondary water source is available. A power supply pipeline network in all stations will be shared by production, people and firefighting. A separate system of rain and waste water drainage will operate for fire-fighting waste water, for structural seepage water and for sewage. Drainage will be into separated networks.
Planning and preparation
A pre-feasibility study for the Shenzhen metro project, phase 1 was carried out during the period from January 1996 to May 1996 and a feasibility study from October 1997 to July 1998. Design solutions were worked out from December, 1997 to February, 1999. A preliminary design was done shortly before the final design. The preliminary design was completed and examined in October 1999 and a working design was started in December 1999 and scheduled to be completed in March 2001. Bids were invited and construction started during the latter half of 2000, lot by lot.
Up to now, three stations (Shuijingdao, Jintian and Yitian stations), one section (Jintian-Yitian) and one car depot (Zhuzilin car depot) are under construction. Bidding should be complete by March 2001 and construction started for the whole line. The milestones ahead are track opening for service in May 2003, electrification in the June that year, and building safety works and single system commission completed in November. System commissioning is scheduled for June 2004, when the whole line is fully constructed.
