Han Ximin

1824295095@qq.com

STARTING March 28, Metro passengers will have to wait at different platforms at Gangxia North Station while transferring between lines 11 and 14 during the morning rush hours, according to a notice from Shenzhen Metro Group.

The move aims to avoid overcrowding and stampedes. The operator said, the new mode will make the transfer time longer by two to three minutes since passengers need to walk 100 meters to another platform. Under the new mode, passengers transferring from Line 14 need to go up to the hall before going down to the other platform for Line 11.

Line 14 currently handles around 374,200 passenger trips a day and the volume is still increasing.

During the peak morning rush hour between 8 and 9 a.m., around 30,000 passengers transfer from lines 14 to 11. Due to Line 11’s limited train capacity and infrastructure, the surge of passengers poses potential safety risks.

Line 11’s Futian-Gangxia North section is the experimental section of its Hongling South Station extension. It currently adopts a one-way backtrack mode, meaning that Gangxia North-bound trains have to wait for the Futian-bound trains to leave the station before it can enter the section and pick up passengers.

Shenzhen Metro Group has put 31 trains on Line 11 during the morning rush hours, and it is hard to add more trains on the line to shorten the departure intervals.  However, when the line’s extension project is completed, the problem will be eliminated, according to the operator.

In addition, starting from Monday, the operator has added more trains on lines 5 and 6 to shorten the train departure intervals to 2 minutes and 15 seconds, and 2 minutes and 51 seconds.