Line 1, Guangzhou Metro

Line 1 of the Guangzhou Metro runs from to (). Apart from and Xilang, all stations in Line 1 are underground. The first section, from Xilang to Huangsha, opened on 28 June 1997, making Guangzhou the fourth city in mainland China to have a metro system. Construction took a total of 66 months. The total investment is 12.2616 billion yuan with an average cost per kilometer of 662.9 million yuan. The full line started operation on 28 June 1999. Line 1 is coloured yellow.

Line 1 connects the old city on the north bank of the Pearl River and new development areas west of Tianhe District passing through many dense areas and important landmarks in central Guangzhou. At the same time, it also connects the newly built Guangzhou East Railway Station and Fangcun Passenger Station, two major transportation hubs. After the opening of the first section of the Guangfo Metro, it became a key corridor for traffic between the central urban areas of Guangzhou and neighboring Foshan. Therefore, after the opening of the whole line, Line 1 has become an important east–west artery in the urban area of Guangzhou.

Although Line 1 has largely not been expanded since 1999, the passenger flows of Line 1 has been increasing as the Guangzhou Metro network continues to rapidly expand its coverage in and around Guangzhou. At present, the average daily passenger flow has exceeded one million passengers per day, ranking among highest of Guangzhou Metro's lines. Trains are often crowded during the morning and evening peak hours, and the platforms of key transfer stations (Gongyuanqian, Tiyu West Road etc.) are even more crowded. Line 1 remains busy throughout the day leading to it being the subway line with the highest passenger intensity in Mainland China with 55,000 passengers/day/km in 2019.

Upgrades

In 2004, station ventilation and electrical systems started to be updated and platforms strengthened in preparation for retrofitting of platform screen doors in all stations, one of the first PSD retrofit projects in Mainland China. By 2009, all stations on Line 1 were retrofitted with PSDs.

Since Line 1 began operation, there have been several incidents of service disruptions due to overhead catenary cable breakages. During that period, Guangzhou Metro experimented rigid catenary installations between Kengkou and Huadiwan stations. Rigid catenary was promoted on all newer lines using overhead electric traction such as Line 2. Beginning in 2007, Guangzhou Metro began converting Line 1's overhead into rigid catenary without shutting down regular service. Instead, trains ran at a speed of when passing through the temporary transition sections.

In 2011, Line 1 carried out renovation work on the walls of stations along the entire line, removing the original wall tiles and replacing them with gray tiles. Chen Yihua, a middle school student from Guangzhou No. 16 Middle School, attracted media attention by protesting the rationale behind the renovation, arguing that the new uniform tiles destroyed the unique decoration and design features of each Line 1 station. In the end, the project was suspended with only some stations renovated. The rest of the stations remained as is temporarily. In 2017, the platforms of Line 1's Guangzhou East Railway Station began to be renovated, having its wall tiles and false ceiling decorations replaced. However, the replaced tiles and decorations were similar in color to the original. Subsequently, the rest of the underground stations also began to have wall tiles replaced and decorations hung up accordingly, completing the remaining station renovations using designs as close to the original style as possible.
In June 2016, Guangzhou Metro began to study how to extend the service life of A1 trains, which were introduced in 1997. The A1s were the rolling stock used during the opening of Line 1 and are the oldest in the Guangzhou Metro. The first A1 train started the refurbishment process between 2019–2020. The refurbished trains feature rebuilt interiors, lighting and electrical systems as well as LCD passenger information screens. The A3 trains were also updated with their dot-matrix route maps replaced by full color LCD passenger information screens. In order to ensure the continuation of reliable daily operations, there were plans to upgrade the existing aging signaling system of Line 1. According to the tender information, it will be upgraded to a newer version of the Siemens signaling system. In February 2022, Guangzhou Metro decided to use the holidays in March and April to upgrade the catenary, signaling system and other equipment of Line 1. During the 16-day upgrade and renovation period, the two-way traffic of Line 1 was closed 1.5 hours earlier.

History

Stations

* OSI - Out-of-station interchange (only available for IC cards users)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Guangzhou Metro, Line 01
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Railway lines opened in 1997
1997 establishments in China