CHINA: A north-south metro line was opened for revenue service in the Henan provincial city of Luoyang on December 26.
The 18·2 km Line 2 connects Erqiao Road in the north with Balitang in the south, and serves 15 stations. Interchange is provided at Jiefang Road with the 25·3 km east-west Line 1 which opened on March 28 2021. Line 2 provides a link between Luoyang railway station in the old city centre and Luoyang Longmen station on the Zhengzhou – Xi’an high speed line, tunnelling under the Luohe river.
The line is operated by a fleet of 19 six-car Type B trainsets, which were supplied by CRRC Zhuzhou and assembled locally by Luoyang CRRC Rail Transit Equipment. Designed for operation at up to 80 km/h, the trains have a crush load capacity of 2 062 passengers.
As with the trains on Line 1 which carry red peony motifs, the Line 2 trains sport green floral motifs both inside and out, drawing on the ancient city’s culture, and ‘the inheritance of the spirit of the Silk Road’. Stations on the southern part of Line 2 serve the Suitang Botanical Gardens and the neighbouring Wenbo Garden.
Approved by the National Development & Reform Commission in August 2016, Line 2 has been under construction since December 2017. Approved extensions would add a further 5·5 km to Beijiao Airport in the north and 16·2 km to the southeast, together with a further 13 stations.
