The line has 23 stations along its total operational length of 31.04 km. All except for Sihui and Sihui East are underground. In the future, a parallel express line called Line 18 may run beside or under Line 1 stopping only at major stations.
Beyond the western terminus of Line 1 – Pingguoyuan – there are three more stations, two of which – Gaojing Station (高井站) and Heishitou Station (黑石头站) – are located in the Beijing Military Region, and one – Fushouling Station (福寿岭站) – is near the Metro Drivers’ Vocational School. Before May 28, 2007, two Line 1 trains stopped at this station each day to allow for the use of students of the vocational school; one stopped in the morning and one stopped in the evening. All three are closed to the general public, though there are now plans for Fushouling to be transformed into a regular station and then reopened, though no date for this has been made public.
There are two main types of train currently used on Line 1. The older type DKZ4 trains are based and maintained at Sihui, while the newer SFM04 trains are based at Gucheng.
There had been a plan to introduce seven-car trains instead of the current six-car trains, in order to relieve the severe overcrowding; but in order to achieve this, the oldest section between Pingguoyuan and Nanlishilu, would have had to have its platforms lengthened. Due to budget constraints, that plan has been put on hold indefinitely.
But if you have a desire to see even older trains, a BD2 trainset is on display in the Subway Culture Park near Xihongmen station, together with two separate carriages of the same vintage.
It is clear that artwork on the subway was not on anyone’s agenda when the first line was mooted in the 1960s. It was designed, after all, as a war preparation project and originally there were no plans to open it to the public.
Even when it was, Deng Xiaoping determined that the entire line should be utilitarian... simple, but elegant; but not luxurious. The result was a line with little to commend it visually.
Occasionally you see advertising-decorated trains on Line 1, but this is still the exception rather than the rule.
Due to platform congestion and suicides, a proposal was made in 2010 to refit all stations on Line 1 with platform screen doors; but it was not until July 2016, that installation started, first at Yong'anli station.
By the end of 2017, all stations except Pingguoyuan were retrofitted with half-height platform screen doors, and all the screen doors were put into operation for the first time.
Though there is no art work per se, an effort – of sorts – has been made to cheer up some of the stations with lighting that is hardly what you might call subtle, but is a welcome change, none-the-less.
At Muxidi, for instance, the fluorescent lights have been placed in squares – not that this is going to win any prizes for originality.
Guomao goes for hexagons...
while Wangfujing prefers its lighting in rectangles.
Tiananmen West, meanwhile, has gone for the octagonal approach...
while the designers of Fuxingmen station experimented with circular lighting.
Tiananmen East station has tried placing lighting at the top of the ceiling support columns to brighten the place up...
while Jianguomen station, too, is brightened up by its lit-up columns.
Yonganli takes the prize for the most originality of Line 1’s lighting efforts.
