China
High speed stations - a catalyst for economic growth
Neil Bennett says the opening of China’s new - and the world’s longest - high speed line is impressive enough, but what escaped the eyes of the technical press is that it is bookended by two stunning interchanges, both designed by a British company
T
he new line between Beijing and Guangszhou runs over no less than 1428 miles of new track and cuts the journey from 22 hours to a mere
eight. But did you know that at both ends sit two new exemplars of integrated high speed interchanges, together delivering the equivalent of all the rail flow into Greater London, and both designed by a British company.
The first of this pair of stations, indeed
the largest in Asia, is Guangzhou South. Built from new on a greenfield site, it consists of no less than 28 elevated island platforms for three national rail systems linking to three underground metro lines arranged with other transport modes over six floors. At the other end its sister station,
Beijing South, opened on time for the Beijing Olympics and is a vital city centre interchange in China’s fast growing rail transport network, with a projected 2030 annual passenger flow of more than 80 million.
Lessons for UK high speed stations Together, these stations show British design and transport expertise at its best and demonstrate the built reality of new high speed transport interchanges, models for their location and design, and lessons to be learnt for the next generation of UK high speed stations.
Beijing South serves as a new gateway Beijing South
to the Chinese capital and a vital link in the growing high-speed intercity rail network, with a catchment area of more than 270 million people. This fully integrated multi- modal transportation hub is both a major urban and civic building – deliberately placed within the metropolis - and the centre of a masterplan for urban economic growth and development. One of the largest contemporary railway
stations in the world, it is designed for passenger movements of 286,500 daily, and 105-million annually by 2030. To accommodate these vast numbers of people, a new model in railway station design was developed, with a vertical separation strategy designed to make passenger traffic flows direct, legible, convenient and highly efficient. The level above the platforms is the Departure Level that houses waiting areas and ticketing facilities; while the level below the platforms, the Arrivals Level, facilitates arriving passengers connecting to the metro and other transportation modes. The station design is practical and
functional, and follows a modern airport terminal arrangement to accommodate the number of passengers, reduce or eliminate cross-flows and assist with wayfinding.
A catalyst for new development Located on existing railway land, one of the challenges was how the geometry of the diagonal fan of the railway tracks sat within
Beijing’s cardinal urban grid – in response the station acts as a gateway by inserting a landscaped pedestrian spine in Beijing’s formal north-south axis, acting as a catalyst for new development to the surrounding urban area. A number of the transportation facilities such as car parking, taxi pick-up and plant have been placed under the railway fan to minimize the footprint of the station. This naturally creates activity around the station and energises the links to the surrounding areas, by becoming an element joining up parts of the city rather than dividing it with inaccessible railway tracks. The Chinese Ministry of Rail was able to take this clear, simple and people oriented structure and utilise this model for China’s future railway network. Using the design as a prototype and exemplar, it has set a new precedent for stations in China. Through numerous design charrettes, the collaborative relationship ensured that the overall operational requirements were exceeded, with many of the features such as the vertical separation of arrivals and departures at one end of the scale and the balustrades at the other end becoming part
April 2013 Page 143
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