THE civil engineering work on Qiaocheng East Depot of Shenzhen Metro Line 9 and Bijiashan Train Terminal was finished Sunday, according to Shenzhen Metro Co.

    Qiaocheng East Depot, which is located at the intersection of Qiaocheng Road East and Baishi Road and covers an area of 210,000 square meters, is the only maintenance base for Metro Line 9 trains.

    The company had previously ordered 44 trains for Line 9 and the first one will arrive before the end of next year for testing.

    The tunnel for Metro Line 9 will be completed at the end of March 2015 and it will be put into operation at the end of 2016.

    Metro Line 9, which will link Hongshuwan in Nanshan and Wenjin in Luohu District, is being built in an effort to assist residents commuting in Nanshan, Futian and Luohu districts, and will have 10 transfer stations connecting with other lines.

    According to Shenzhen Rail Construction Office, the civil engineering work on lines 7 and 11 will be completed soon and construction of lines 6 and 10 will commence soon. Work on the extension of the Huanzhong Line between Qianhaiwan and Chiwan and the extension of Line 9 between Hongshuwan and Qianhai will also start soon.

    So far, 40 of 69 stations that are part of Phase III have been completed and 70 percent of the tunnel projects have also been completed.

    (Han Ximin)