CHINA: The 40·7 km circular Zhengzhou metro Line 5 opened on May 20.
Construction of the entirely underground line had been launched in December 2014. Testing began in September last year, with trials running on the complete route from December.
The line has 32 stations, with one more expected to open at a later date. Four of these provide interchanges with other lines, and a further seven will provide interchanges in the future.
The line is the first in the city to use Type A trainsets. Each six-car set is 140 m long, 20 m long than the Type B sets, and the cars are 200 mm wider than Type B vehicles. Each trainset has a crush load capacity of 2 592 passengers. The trains are stabled at the Zhongzhou Avenue and Wulongkou depots.
The first section of the Zhengzhou metro opened in December 2014. The network now comprises the 41·2 km Line 1, 22·5 km Line 2, 40·7 km Line 5 and the 31·7 km Line 9, known as the Chengjiao Line. A further 450 km is under construction.
The metro carried 291·5 million passengers last year.
