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Line 3 of the
Guangzhou Metro The Guangzhou Metro () ( and ) is the rapid transit system of the city of Guangzhou in Guangdong Province of China. It is operated by the state-owned Guangzhou Metro Corporation and was the fourth metro system to be built in mainland China, af ...
is a
rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...
line connects to . The entire line, including all track and stations, is located in
tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...
s. Its main branch, excluding the branch between Tianhe Coach Terminal and Tiyu Xilu, is now the second longest continuous subway tunnel in the world, and the longest rail tunnel of any kind (surpassing the
Gotthard Base Tunnel , rm, Tunnel da basa dal Sogn Gottard , image = 20141120 gotthard-basistunnel02-wikipedia-hannes-ortlieb.jpg , image_size = 250 , caption = Turnout at Faido multifunction station , line = Gotthard Line , location = Switzerland (Uri, Grisons and ...
in Switzerland). Line 3 is split into two sections, Shiqiao line (main line, from Panyu Square to Tianhe Coach Terminal) and Airport line (northern branch, Tiyu Xilu to Airport North), and are branded with the colour orange. The line is extremely congested, with numerous sections officially operating over 100% capacity. The line uses Seltrac S40
communications-based train control Communications-based train control (CBTC) is a railway signaling system that uses telecommunications between the train and track equipment for traffic management and infrastructure control. CBTC allows a train's position to be known more accurat ...
from
Alcatel Alcatel may refer to: * Alcatel, a former French telecommunications equipment company, which became Alcatel-Lucent and is now part of Nokia * Alcatel Mobile, a brand of mobile phones, tablets and wearables, formerly a joint venture between Alcatel ...
.


History


Initial Section

Line 3 started out as a short peripheral line in Guangzhou's "Five-Line" subway masterplan in the early 1990s. It was envisioned as a north south circulator line for the Tianhe District's new CBD connecting
Guangzhou East railway station Guangzhoudong (Guangzhou East) railway station (), formerly known as Tianhe railway station () serves the city of Guangzhou, located in the city's Tianhe District. The railway, metro, and bus terminal stations is interconnected as a single stat ...
with the proposed
Zhujiang New Town Zhujiang New Town or Zhujiang New City is a central business district in Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is bounded by Huangpu Avenue on the north, the Pearl River (China), Pearl River on the south, Guangzhou Avenue on the wes ...
CBD, crossing the
Pearl River The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-all ...
to
Chigang station Chigang Station () is a station on Line 8 of the Guangzhou Metro. It started operations on 28June 2003. It is located to the northeast of the junction of Xingang Middle Road () and Jiangnan Avenue () in the Haizhu District Haizhu District is ...
on what was then Line 2 and turning east to Xinzhou. Essentially taking over the section of Today's Line 8 between Chigang and Wanshengwei stations. However at the time it was planned to run under Liede Avenue just east of the new CBD instead of under Xiyu West Road like it does today. In Guangzhou's updated "Seven-Line" subway masterplan published in the late 1990s the proposed Line 3 plan was extended north to arc over old Guangzhou terminating around
Chatou Station Chatou () is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Chatou is a part of the affluent suburbs of western Paris and is on the northwest side of the Seine river about from the city's center. Hist ...
on Line 13 and Line 12. Additionally the southern section of the line was rerouted southwest roughly following today's Line 12 between Chigang and Luntou, with the section east to Xinzhou mostly being taken over by what is today Line 8. Line 3 was redesigned into a pure north south line running between Guangzhou East Railway station to reach
Panyu District Panyu, alternately romanized as Punyu, is one of 11 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, China. It was a separate county-level city before its incorporation into modern Guangzhou in 200 ...
. A branch line was added between Tiyu Xilu station and Tianhe Coach Terminal station. The change was done in response with the local government's "Southern Expansion" plan to develop the southern areas of Guangzhou. This plan required faster transportation links with
Panyu District Panyu, alternately romanized as Punyu, is one of 11 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, China. It was a separate county-level city before its incorporation into modern Guangzhou in 200 ...
and the new CBD. At the time limited ridership of the first phases of Line 1 and 2 as well as underestimated urban growth rates lead to downscaling of Line 3's trains. The line would use three car Type B trains instead of higher capacity six car Type A trains used in Line 1 and 2; assuming that capacity shortfalls would be mitigated by running a more frequent service, with an ultimate train configuration of six cars in the future as demand slowly increases. Additionally, a separate Airport Express line between Guangzhou's New Baiyun International Airport and the new CBD was proposed. Construction the first section of Line 3 between East Guangzhou Railway station and officially commenced with groundbreaking on the experimental segment at Datang station in 2001. On January 26, 2003, construction work at Datang was completed and capped. On February 8, 2003
tunnel boring machine A tunnel boring machine (TBM), also known as a "mole", is a machine used to excavate tunnels with a circular cross section through a variety of soil and rock strata. They may also be used for microtunneling. They can be designed to bore throu ...
s begin boring tunnels on the first section of Line 3. Tunnel boring machines beginning boring tunnels on a section of Line 3 at Tiyu Xilu station. Tiyu Xilu Station will use
cut-and-cover A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube constr ...
construction with a bored section in the middle where it runs under Line 1 with only of cover. On May 30, 2003 Construction work at Shiqiao station was completed and capped one month ahead of schedule. At the same time,
Lijiao station Lijiao Station () is an interchange station on Line 3 of the Guangzhou Metro and Guangfo line that started operations on 28December 2006. It is located under Lijiao Village () in the Haizhu District Haizhu District is one of 11 urban dist ...
begin construction works. 99 sets of escalators were purchased from
Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...
for the project. The entire project was opened in stages between 2005 and 2006.


North South Express Line

During construction of the initial segment, Line 3 and the Airport Express Line were redesigned and now planned as a single project that begins to resemble its configuration today; A line from Baiyun International Airport to Haibang station via
Zhujiang New Town Zhujiang New Town or Zhujiang New City is a central business district in Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is bounded by Huangpu Avenue on the north, the Pearl River (China), Pearl River on the south, Guangzhou Avenue on the wes ...
and Panyu Square. The Airport Express Line was merged into Line 3 as the Line 3 Phase 2 project. The expected long term peak demand section of the Phase 2 project is 20,000
passengers per hour per direction Passengers per hour per direction (p/h/d), passengers per hour in peak direction (pphpd) or corridor capacity is a measure of the route capacity of a rapid transit or public transport system. Definition The corridor capacity in the passenger t ...
. This allowed for the use of Line 3's three car Type B trains on the Airport Line, again assuming that capacity shortfalls would be mitigated by running a more frequent service, with an ultimate train configuration of six cars in the future. Additionally, passing loops and higher speed () operations were proposed for the Airport Line to allow for distinct airport express and regular local services similar to the MTR
Tung Chung line The Tung Chung line is one of the ten lines of the MTR system in Hong Kong, linking the town of Tung Chung with central Hong Kong. A part of the Tung Chung line was built along with the Kap Shui Mun Bridge and the Tsing Ma Bridge. The line cu ...
and
Airport Express The AirPort Express is a Wi-Fi base station product from Apple Inc., part of the AirPort product line. While more compact and in some ways simpler than another Apple Wi-Fi base station, the AirPort Extreme, the Express offers audio output cap ...
in Hong Kong. The express services would run between
Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is the major airport of Guangzhou, Guangdong province, in Southern China. Both airport codes were inherited from the former Baiyun Airport, and the IATA code is derived from Guangzhou's historical romani ...
and Tiyu Xilu and only stop at what is today Jiahewanggang, Yantang, Guangzhou East railway stations. The Phase 2 Project extends Line 3 north to the new airport on a mostly elevated alignment. In 2007, of Phase 2 line also redesigned to run underground instead of elevated at a cost of an additional 1 billion Yuan. With the redesigned underground alignment, passing loops for express services were removed to control construction costs. The line was now completely transformed into a north south express line with wide stop spacings and operation in suburban sections instead of a local metro line, with aspects of an express railway link, as first envisioned. Later Yongtai station and Gaozeng station was added to the plan the latter station added in anticipation for Line 9. On October 30, 2010 Line 3 Phase 2 entered operation.


Congestion

In 2010, after the completion of Phase 2, Line 3 has become the most important north-south traffic artery in the urban area of Guangzhou. This is a far cry from the peripheral circulator line it was originally envisioned to be in the 1990s. Massive developments at the
Zhujiang New Town Zhujiang New Town or Zhujiang New City is a central business district in Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is bounded by Huangpu Avenue on the north, the Pearl River (China), Pearl River on the south, Guangzhou Avenue on the wes ...
CBD and strong population growth of Guangzhou as a whole, created unforeseen high demand and heavy congestion for the line which forced new B2 and B4 series six car trains to be ordered and existing B1 series three car trains were linked together to form six car sets, decades ahead of the original timeline. The new B2 and B4 series trains will have luggage racks to support Line 3's role as an
airport rail link An airport rail link is a service providing passenger rail transport from an airport to a nearby city by mainline or commuter trains, rapid transit, people mover, or light rail. Direct links operate straight to the airport terminal, while o ...
. The new trains gradually allowed the line to operate to its ultimate configuration of six car type B trains running just at two minute headways. Severe congestion continued to plague the line even at its ultimate design configuration as demand continued to increase. In June 2014, the maximum full load rate in the morning peak of the whole line of Line 3 was as high as 136%, appearing in the interval between Kecun Station and Guangzhou Tower Station. In 2015, with daily average ridership reaching over 1.5 million passengers per day, several rows of seats and all luggage racks where removed from all trains in an attempt to increase capacity. In June 2017, the ridership of Line 3 has grown to average over 2 million passengers per day. In March 2018, the whole line heading in the peak direction of the
Zhujiang New Town Zhujiang New Town or Zhujiang New City is a central business district in Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is bounded by Huangpu Avenue on the north, the Pearl River (China), Pearl River on the south, Guangzhou Avenue on the wes ...
CBD exceeded 100% capacity during the AM peak period with a maximum full load rate exceeding 120% in the section from Yantang Station to Guangzhou East Station on the Airport Line. The busiest section of Line 3 carries over 60,000
pphpd Passengers per hour per direction (p/h/d), passengers per hour in peak direction (pphpd) or corridor capacity is a measure of the route capacity of a rapid transit or public transport system. Definition The corridor capacity in the passenger tr ...
in 2018, multiples over the long term 20,000 pphpd volume projected during the Airport Line's construction. By 2020, the most congested section of Line 3 reached 150% capacity. Peak period headways have been reduced to every 1 minute 58 seconds and how reaches fleet and signal system capacities. The under construction Line 18 and proposed Line 26 is expected to relieve the congestion of Line 3.


Train service

There are 4 types of train services offered on the metro line 3: * — * — * — * ← (southbound trains only, operating during morning peak hours on working days)


Stations

*N - Northern extension (Airport Branch) *M - Main line *MN - Thru Services * OSI - Out-of-station interchange (only available for IC cards users) , align="left" ,
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, 3.81 , 65.42 , rowspan="2" , Huadu , - , style="text-align:center;" , ●, , style="text-align:center;" , , , style="text-align:center;" , ● , 3 30 , style="background:#407CC9" , , ,
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BBA , 1.23 , 66.65 , - style="background:#; height: 2pt" , colspan="11" ,


Special short-distance service

Due to route planning issues, it is difficult for passengers in the middle of the route to board the train. In order to solve this problem, short-distance service trains will be added at certain times. The known service arrangements are as follows: *Between and : This service is only available during peak hours in the morning on weekdays. The southern end at starting service from September 25, 2018 is , and the southern end changing to Tiyu Xilu Station is from February 24, 2020. *Between and : This service is only available during peak hours in the morning on weekdays. *From /// to : This service is only available during peak hours in the morning on weekdays. Since 2013, it provide services from Tonghe Station to Dashi Station. After providing short-distance service between Panyu Square Station and Tonghe Station in 2018, there will be one train departing from Longgui Station and two trains departing from Jiahe Wanggang Station at about 8:00, and one train departing from Tianhe Coach Terminal Station at about 8:18. After arriving at the terminal station, Dashi Station, some trains will resume normal services, and other trains will end the service and keep stand by. *From // to : This service is available in the morning and evening peak hours. *From to : This service is available in the morning and evening peak hours. *From / to : This service is the last trains before the end of the day's operation service. After the train reaches the end, it will end the service and return to the Jiahe Wanggang depot. *From / to : This service is only available during peak hours in the evening on weekdays.


Future Expansion


Eastern Extension

A further extension east of Haibang Station to Hai'ou Island and eventually across the
Pearl River The Pearl River, also known by its Chinese name Zhujiang or Zhu Jiang in Mandarin pinyin or Chu Kiang and formerly often known as the , is an extensive river system in southern China. The name "Pearl River" is also often used as a catch-all ...
to
Dongguan Dongguan (; ) is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. An important industrial city in the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders the provincial capital of Guangzhou to the north, Huizhou to the northeast, Shenzhen to the s ...
was proposed in 2007. In 2017, the Guangzhou Municipal Land Planning Commission approved the planning for Line 3 to be extended to Hai'ou Island. However, the extension eastward beyond
Panyu Square station Panyu Square station () is a station of Line 3, Line 18 and Line 22 of the Guangzhou Metro. Line 3 started operation on 30December 2006, Line 18 started operation on 28September 2021 and Line 22 started operation on 31March 2022. The statio ...
was approved by
National Development and Reform Commission The National Development and Reform Commission of the People's Republic of China (NDRC), formerly State Planning Commission and State Development Planning Commission, is a macroeconomic management agency under the State Council, which has br ...
to only reach Haibang station as part of Guangzhou's (2015-2025) subway expansion plan in March 2018. It was revealed that the extension to Hai'ou Island is reserved for future planning. The extension is 9.58 km long as will add four new stations and connect Line 3 to Line 4. Construction of this extension started November 19, 2018.


Line 10

The Tiyu Xilu-Tianhe Coach Terminal Section is planned to no longer operate as part of Line 3. The Shipaiqiao-Tianhe Coach Terminal Section will be transferred to Line 10, with the remaining Main and Northern sections being combined into one single service.


Rolling Stock

At the time of introduction Line 3 trains were one of the fastest subway trains in China when initially introduced, reaching up to in service. As of 2020 there is currently a fleet of 71 six car trains serving Line 3. To accommodate increased fleet requirements for the eastern extension, an additional 10 six car trainsets have been ordered. In August 2020, plans were announced a further 18 additional trains to be purchased for Line 3 to reduce headways and improve capacity. This will push the fleet serving Line 3 to 99 trainsets.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guangzhou Metro, Line 03 03 Railway lines opened in 2005 2005 establishments in China Airport rail links in China