Opening for Subway Lines 3, 12 Inches Closer as Station Entrances Appear

If you’ve been around Sanlitun, Dongsishitiao, or Dongba lately you’ll have noticed a distinct change to the scenery: new subway station entrances are taking shape.

The “big box” buildings that housed subway work areas are slowly coming down as construction on Line 3 and Line 12 nears completion. And while an exact opening date for the lines has yet to be announced – it’s slowly been changed from “end of July” to “end of September” to the more open ended “within this year” – it seems the time is inching ever closer.

Line 3 stations are most obvious around Sanlitun, where the east-west running line will connect to Line 10 at Tuanjiehu before terminating at Workers’ Stadium (the Phase II section of the line will reach further west). As for Line 12, station entrances can be seen around Dongba, where Dongba South and Dongba North stations will service residential areas and major shopping/business areas.

As for Dongsishitiao, where Line 3 will connect to Line 2, there aren’t any readily visible exits, but this looks to be by design. A new elevator has been added to the Line 2 platform, and a blocked off section of the station we spotted suggests passengers might just be using the Line 2 exits to access both lines, with transfers happening belowground.

Besides station entrances cropping up, the last news we got on the progress of the lines came at the end of summer, when trains began no-load test runs. 

Both Line 3 and Line 12 will run east to west. Line 3 will run from Dongba North outside the 5th Ring Road before traveling southwest and then west into the city center, terminating at Workers’ Stadium. Line 12 will connect to Line 3 at Dongba North, traveling outside the 5th Ring and to the west.

The two lines are the most widely anticipated of a slew of new subway lines on the way, including Line 13B, which will run way north of Line 13 (soon to be 13A); new sections of the Changping Line; a branch line of Line 1; and plenty more set to open in 2025 and the years ahead.

Are you waiting with bated breath for Line 3 and Line 12 to open? Got an estimate for an opening date? Let us know in the comments!

READ: These Are Beijing's Busiest Subway Transfer Stations

Images: courtesy of David Feng