Beijing railway station

Predecessor station In 1901, Zhengyangmen East Station was constructed south-east of Zhengyangmen, the gate south of Tiananmen Square. It was the terminus of the Beijing–Shanhaiguan Railway built by Imperial Railways of North China. Zhengyangmen East closed in 1959 with the opening of the Beijing railway station 2.5 km to the east, and eventually become part of the China Railway Museum. Design and construction To commemorate the Tenth Anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party in 1958 began the planning and construction of ten large-scale projects, known as the "Ten Great Buildings" to showcase the new outlook of the country and the Beijing railway station was amongst the projects undertaken. In late October 1958, according to the early 1950 Beijing municipal government's construction and planning records, the design arrangements for the new railway station was commenced. The station's design was assigned to the Ministry of Railway Institute's third department (now the Third Railway Survey and Design Institute Group Co. Ltd) with the station house building chaired by then renowned architects Yang Tingbao () and Chen Deng'ao (), the National Building and Industry Department and the Nanjing Institute of Architectural Design were to cooperate in the design tasks. The station's design progressed rapidly and by early December the same year, the whole design proposal was completed. On December 10, the design proposal was approved by the Central Committee. The then Premier Zhou Enlai was also very concerned about the design and construction of the new Beijing railway station, and dealt with aspects concerning the direction and positioning of station names to the layout of the VIP room environment. In determining the design program proposal, Zhou Enlai proposed that turrets be built on each of the two wings of the main building and this suggestion was adopted. On 20 January 1959 the construction of the new station commenced with the number of construction workers reaching up to two million people during the peak stage and project investment amounted to 57.82 million yuan. Soviet experts were also hired to give technical guidance at the construction sites. In just over seven months, the project was completed on 10 September 1959. The new Beijing railway station covered an area of two hundred and fifty thousand square meters, the Station House Building site covered an area of , the station plaza comprised an area of forty thousand square meters. Chairman Mao Zedong wrote the calligraphic characters in the station sign. The Beijing railway station was one of the largest construction projects in mainland China during that time with modern facilities and it was also China's first large modern railway terminal. At the time of completion, the station has a twelve tracks and six railway platforms with canopies attached to them. The Station house building faced south and the architecture included both a Chinese traditional style and the Soviet Stalinist architecture. The twelve passenger waiting rooms comprised a total area of fourteen thousand square meters and was able to accommodate 14,000 waiting passengers. The inner complex of the Main Station Building contained a passenger waiting room, mother and child waiting room, movie theater, recreation hall, visitors' restaurants, post office, clinic and other facilities. The roof had two clock towers; bells marked 7 AM and 9 PM by playing "The East Is Red". The Beijing station equipment was considered to be relatively advanced at its -time with four AC2-59 type escalators installed in the interior; the joint design and production of the escalators were coordinated by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Shanghai Elevator Company. The four sets of escalators were replaced during the 1980 and again during 1990; the most recent replacement of the elevators occurred in early 2005 - the design being a product of Otis Company. ==Operation==

China Railway }} }} After the completion of the new Beijing railway station, its transport capacity far exceeded the formerly used East railway station and it played an increasing role in heavy transport tasks, and today it is still Beijing's most important passenger railway station, and has the largest station traffic in China. The number of trains and traffic has also increased year by year: In 1959 there were 33 train lines; in 1966 there were forty train lines; in 1978 there were sixty-one train lines; in 1985 there were seventy-eight train lines; and by 1993 there were eighty-two train lines. During the late 1950s, the number of passengers using the railway transportation system was six million people a year, in the late 1960 it was eight million people a year, in the late 1970 it reached fifteen million a year, and after the reform and opening up period, the usage soared to more than thirty million people. Between May 1998 and September 1999, the Ministry of Railways implemented a seismic strengthening project to the Beijing railway station and also introduced new passenger features such as a central air conditioning system, passenger guidance system, multi-functional radio broadcasting system. Since 18 June 2003, the Beijing railway station began an expansion of two new sites, comprising an area of and includes a specialized large parcel luggage line, renovations included the removal of the concrete canopy, alterations to the steel arch station poles, and alterations to the original site raised it from 1 to 1.2 meters. In June 2008, in order to meet the needs of the Beijing Olympic Games, bilingual signs were created at the Beijing railway station to facilitate an overall increase in foreign tourists travelling to the games, in addition to putting up the English name "Beijing Railway Station", several other signs were also erected at station entrances, exits and ticket booths. On 25 June 2021, G902/903 and G907/908 trains will be extended to Beijing railway station, thus the Beijing-Shenyang high-speed railway has charted trains arriving and departing at Beijing railway station. Beijing Subway The Beijing railway station is a transportation hub in Beijing. • Beijing Subway: Line 2 stops at the Beijing railway station, with Entrance D on the station plaza. • Beijing Bus routes and stops near the station: • Beijing Station East () east of the station plaza: 9, 10, 20, 25, 29, 39, 52, 59, 122, 203, 204, 209, 403, 420, 434, 637, 638, 639, 666, 668, 673, 674, 729, 804, 805, 827, 829, 938, 957 • Beijing Station West () west of the station plaza: 103, 104, 208, 209, 211, 673 • Beijing Station Front Street () north of the station plaza: 9, 24, 204, 673, 674, 729, 804, • Beijing Station Intersection East () on Chang'an Avenue, north of the station plaza: 1, 52, 90, 99, 120, 126, 205, 208, 420, 637, 666, 728, • Jianguomen Bridge South () east of the station plaza on the Second Ring Road: 25, 39, 43, 44, 52, 122, 434, 637, 638, 750, • Beijing Airport Bus Route 3 has a terminus located about east of the station plaza. Bus route numbers in bold denotes bus terminus. Station layout The station has an underground island platform. Exits There are four exits, lettered A, B, C, and D. Exit A is accessible. ==Gallery==

Beijingchezhan1959.jpg|The facade of the newly built Beijing railway station in 1959 China Railways NY1 0001 in Beijing.jpg|An NY1 diesel locomotive hauling a passenger train out of the Beijing railway station in 1959 Beijingrailwaystation night.jpg|The Beijing railway station at night in 2008 after the station's English sign was added in advance of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games Beijing Railway Station 20120401.jpg|The Beijing railway station in 2012, after the electrification of the tracks == Notes ==