Line 2 of the

Beijing Subway The Beijing Subway is the rapid transit system of Beijing Municipality that consists of 25 lines including 20 rapid transit lines, two airport rail links, one maglev line and 2 light rail lines, and 463 stations. The rail network extends ac ...

() 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 ...

rail line in central Beijing that runs in a rectangular

loop Loop or LOOP may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Loop (mobile), a Bulgarian virtual network operator and co-founder of Loop Live * Loop, clothing, a company founded by Carlos Vasquez in the 1990s and worn by Digable Planets * Loop Mobile, ...

around the city centre. The line traces the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

inner city wall, which was demolished and paved over by the

2nd Ring Road The 2nd Ring Road () is the innermost ring road highway which encircles the city center of Beijing, People's Republic of China. (The first ring road had been a circular tram route.) The ring road can be divided into two parts: the original rin ...

and

Qianmen Qianmen () is the colloquial name for Zhengyangmen (; Manchu:; Möllendorff:tob šun-i duka, literally meaning "Gate of the Zenith Sun"), a gate in Beijing's historic city wall. The gate is situated to the south of Tiananmen Square and once gua ...

Avenue. Line 2, opened in 1984, is the second oldest and one of the busiest of Beijing's subway lines and the only one to serve

Beijing railway station Beijing railway station (), or simply Beijing station (), is a passenger railway station in Dongcheng District, Beijing. The station is located just southeast of the city centre inside the Second Ring Road with Beijing Station Street to the nor ...

. All 18 stations on the line are under ground. Ten of the 18 stations offer transfers to other lines. Line 2's color is

blue Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...

Hours of Operation

Because Line 2 is a loop line with no true terminus, trains are identified as either running on the ''inner loop'' (), going in the clockwise direction, or on the ''outer loop'' (), going in the counter clockwise direction. However, trains returning to the Taipinghu Depot either terminate at Xizhimen or Jishuitan; passengers are asked wait for a full loop line train at these stations. The first inner loop train departs at 5:03am. The first outer loop train departs at 5:09am. The last inner loop train leaves Jishuitan at 10:55pm. The last outer loop train leaves Xizhimen at 11:14pm. For the official timetable, please see the Beijing Subway website.

Route

Line 2 encircles the old city center districts of Dongcheng and Xicheng and skirts the western edge of Chaoyang. The entire line runs underground.

List of Stations

Eleven of Line 2's eighteen stations are named after gates in the old city wall. These stations end in ''men'', meaning gate. The twelfth gate,

Deshengmen Deshengmen (; lit. "Gate of Virtuous Triumph") is a city gate that was once part of Beijing's northern city wall. It is one of Beijing's few preserved city gates and now stands as a landmark on the northern 2nd Ring Road. Latimer D. (2014) ''The I ...

(德胜门), is near station. The following table lists Line 2 stations in the outer loop or counter clockwise order. , , align="left", , 0:28 , 1.027 , 14.278 , style="text-align:center;" rowspan="4", Dongcheng , - , style="background:#; color:white", 214 , , , , align="left", , 0:30 , 0.824 , 15.102 , - , style="background:#; color:white", 215 , , , , align="left", , 0:34 , 2.228 , 17.330 , - , style="background:#; color:white", 216 , , , , align="left", , 0:36 , 0.794 , 18.124 , - , style="background:#; color:white", 217 , , , , align="left", , 0:38 , 1.237 , 19.361 , Dongcheng / Xicheng , - , style="background:#; color:white", 218 , , , , align="left", , 0:41 , 1.766 , 21.127 , style="text-align:center;", Xicheng , - style = "background:#; height: 2pt" , colspan = "9" , , - bgcolor="lightgrey" , colspan="6" style="font-size:85%; text-align:center;", — ↓ Loop line - towards

Xizhimen Xizhimen () was a gate in the Beijing city wall and is now a transportation node in Beijing. The gate was the entrance of drinking water for the Emperor, coming from the Jade Spring Hills to the west of Beijing. The gate was demolished in 19 ...

↓ — , 1.899 , 23.026 , , - style = "background:#; height: 2pt" , colspan = "9" ,

History

On September 20, 1984, the first section Line 2 opened between and . The line was a long upside down "horseshoe" along the west, north and east

, with 12 stations. On December 28, 1987, the line was extended from the terminals of Fuxingmen and Jianguomen, connecting the line with the original section of

Line 1 Line 1 or 1 line may refer to: Public transport Africa * Line 1 (Algiers Metro), Algeria * Cairo Metro Line 1, Egypt Asia China * Line 1 (Beijing Subway) * Line 1 (Changchun Rail Transit) * Line 1 (Changsha Metro) * Line 1 (Changzhou Metro) * L ...

between and

. The completed line was called the "Beijing Subway Loop" and is long with 18 stations. Since January 2002, the line was renamed as "Line 2".

Other Facts

The rolling stock maintenance facility is located at Taipinghu, near Jishuitan station.

Rolling Stock

Current

Former

References

{{Beijing Subway Station , line2=yes Beijing Subway lines Railway lines opened in 1984 1984 establishments in China Railway loop lines 750 V DC railway electrification