Urban Railways in China and India The Shanghai No. 1 Subway Line Lu JinDong Chen YiXin The Shanghai No. 1 Subway Line runs tion coming to a complete halt in the mid- Railway Station. north-south from Shanghai Railway Sta- 1960s in the chaos of the Cultural Revo- The proposal stated that the main objec- tion to Jinjiang Playground. The total lution. tive of the new subway would be diver- length of the line is 16.1 km servicing 13 After China's implementation of econom- sifying traffic flow. According to the stations. Construction commenced on 19 ic reform, and the policy of opening up proposal, Shanghai City alone would be January 1990 and was completed on 10 to the outside world in the early 1980s, responsible for raising the necessary cap- April 1995. The Line garnered the pres- the Shanghai subway construction plan ital through financing schemes and bor- tigious Gold Cup Highest Honors in the was put back on the agenda. On 14 rowing. category of metropolitan construction August 1986, China's State Council ap- The State Council gave its official stamp projects from the Construction Ministry. proved the Proposal Concerning Con- of approval on 19 January 1990, paving struction of Shanghai City Subway Line the way for the commencement of con- from Xin Long Hua Station to Shanghai struction. Project Background Shanghai has 13 million residents with an additional transient population of ap- proximately 3 million workers and visi- tors. It is the industrial, economic and financial centre of China. The downtown area is characterized by overcrowding due to extremely high population densi- ty, narrow streets and back alleys, and inevitable traffic jams. In recent years, Shanghai's transportation problems have negatively affected the pace of econom- ic development. A subway was first proposed for Shang- hai in 1956. On 8 December of that year, the initial Shanghai Subway Planning Report was presented by the City Admin- istration Transportation Office to the Shanghai City People's Council for con- sideration. An interesting point in the report mentioned that the subway would not only speed transportation but would be of strategic use in the event of war for evacuating the civilian population and for moving troops. In 1964, the Tunnel Engineering Bureau did some secret test of subway construc- tion work for research and planning. The tests, carried out to examine design ideas and develop relevant construction tech- niques, were headquartered at Hengshan Road in downtown Shanghai. They in- cluded digging a 660-m tunnel. In addi- tion, a prototype station was built below Hengshan Park. The subway project was halted shortly afterwards with construc- Different Type of Traffic Congestion in Shanghai (EJRCF) Copyright © 1997 EJRCF. All rights reserved. Japan Railway & Transport Review • January 1997 31 Urban Railways in China and India Directing Construction Building a subway is a large-scale project involving complex considerations of de- sign, traffic flow, traffic disruption, dislo- cation of residents, and relocation of businesses; it requires close cooperation with the city administration as well as ac- cess to vast amounts of power and utili- ties such as water, construction materials, construction equipment, and other re- sources. Thus, an undertaking of such large scale requires strong leadership and powerful direction. Shanghai created the Shanghai No. 1 Cut and Cover Construction of Shanghai No. 1 Subway Line (Author) Subway Line Construction Leadership Group led by the Vice-Mayor of Shang- technology arenas. hai City. The members of the small group Funding Germany, France, Japan and the USA included top officials of all relevant ad- were the main competitors; in the end, ministrative bodies impacted by the plan. Why did the plans to construct a subway Germany won the contract. The German The Shanghai City administration ap- in Shanghai meander back and forth for government put up DM460 million in pointed the Shanghai No. 1 Subway Con- over 30 years with no progress? The key loans (US$230 million) to be repaid at struction Board of Directors. The Board reason was lack of funds. This changed an annual interest rate of 0.75% over 30 was given responsibility for quality and in 1986 when Jiang Zemin, then Mayor years with a 10-year grace period. The safety, and to obtain capital for the con- of Shanghai, suggested borrowing foreign money was earmarked especially for struction. To facilitate development of capital to fund the project. A sum of buying 16 trainsets with a total of 96 cars, businesses related to the construction, the US$3.2 billion was earmarked for mod- electrical generators, transformers, com- Board of Directors created the Shanghai ernizing the Shanghai economy; part of munications equipment, station equip- Subway General Company. the funds would be used for investment ment, overhead power lines and The General Company was under the in industry, part would be used for city escalators. The American government supervision of the Shanghai City Engi- infrastructure development including the committed to loans totalling US$23 mil- neering Management Bureau, which in subway, airport, telecommunications, lion, 40% of which was an outright grant turn was under the Shanghai City Con- bridges and other projects. According to primarily for signalling systems, safety struction Committee Group. The Board this plan, profits garnered from the invest- and alarm systems, water-cooling equip- of Directors and the General Company ment in industry would service the inter- ment, waterproofing materials, etc. The were in fact two names for one body re- est and eventually repay the principle. French government provided US$21.5 sponsible for public bidding on projects, The subway was budgeted to cost US$300 million in funds of which 54% was in the signing contracts, and smoothing rela- million. Thus, participation was viewed form of a loan at 2% annual interest over tionships; this unitary group was divided by many countries as the ‘contract of the 40 years with a 10-year grace period. into two separate entities like two sides century’. Not only did participation rep- Export credits comprised the other 46% of the same coin to reflect both govern- resent a foot in China’s open door, but it and seven shield tunnelling machines ment and corporate functions. The Gen- also offered the lure of getting a head start were bought from FCB Corporation of eral Company brought together more on the competition in the Chinese mar- France. Shanghai City was to provide than 40 companies and construction ket. The project served as an investment capital for housing relocations, compen- units to work on the project through pub- magnet for more than 60 firms involved sation, restructuring utilities, and build- lic bidding. in subway construction from 12 countries ing and decorating stations. around the world. Bidding sparked fierce competition in the political, economic and 32 Japan Railway & Transport Review • Jaunary 1997 Copyright © 1997 EJRCF. All rights reserved. level was dug, and the roof, continuous walls and ceiling were built and covered. In the second stage, work continued un- derground on the intermediate structures and the base plate. The road closure was reduced from 18 months to less than 11 months by using this method. The two- stage process increased the construction pace, and limited business losses by al- lowing above-ground traffic to resume as soon as possible. The subway construction inconve- nienced residents and caused business losses due to road closures and changes Shanghai Railway Station (Author) in traffic flow in vital business areas. But considering the long-term interests of lo- Theory, survey measurements and expe- cal residents, it was possible to win wide- Construction rience were combined to solve problems. spread cooperation and support and The foundation subsidence was con- construction stayed on schedule. The Shanghai No. 1 Subway Line runs trolled to within 3 cm. The average underground station on the north-south through urban Shanghai. When construction reached the bustling No. 1 Line is 230-m long and between Most sections of the line were dug using business district of Huaihai Road, the city 20- and 24-m wide. Each station has two shield tunnelling machines through wa- government requested that construction levels. The upper level is devoted to the ter-saturated compressible and slippery be accelerated to shorten the road clo- station hall, with three to five entrances/ ground or soft, clayey soils. sure period. A reverse construction meth- exits leading to the street above. The hall The line cuts through a crowded down- od was used to dig the underground contains ticket machines, wickets and town area of small streets. At the nar- foundation. Work progressed in two stag- public telephones. The lower level is rowest point, the route was restricted to es: In the first stage, the upper station devoted to the platforms and tracks. The a width of 20 m, leaving little room to work around existing buildings at ground level, or to get past existing underground pipes and utility cables. Because of ground quality and environ- mental factors, all the subway stations have a continuous underground tunnel wall. The wall, which protected the structure during digging of the founda- tion, now serves as a permanent part of each structure. A cross section of each station shows the geometry of double pillars dividing the space into three sec- tions and single pillars dividing the space into two sections. The spaces are con- nected by a rib-like structure. Ground settlement is dealt with in two ways: by anti-floating tendency, or by ground sta- bilization. Special techniques were used to control subsidence when digging the stations. Xin Long Hua Station (Author) Copyright © 1997 EJRCF. All rights reserved. Japan Railway & Transport Review • January 1997 33 Urban Railways in China and India platforms are 186-m long and 8- to 14-m niques were used to simultaneously en- charge of installing electrical systems and wide.