Planning, Investment, Construction and Operation of Rail Transit in Beijing Research conducted by Dr. LIU Jian, Associate Professor of Urban Planning & Design ZUO Xiaoxuan, Master of Urban Planning & Design, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University With the Sponsorship of IVM 2011
1. Evolution of rail transit construction in Beijing As the first Chinese city in constructing an urban rail transit system, Beijing had compiled its first subway system plan in 1957 with the objective of “combing civil and military uses.” The planned subway system was composed of one loop line, seven radiating lines and 114 stations with a mileage of 172 km. Yet, due to historical reasons, the subway construction was not started until 1965. When the first subway line, running from Ping-guo-yuan in the west to Beijing Railway Station in the east with a mileage of 23.6 km and 17 stations, was partly completed in October1969, it became the first subway line in Mainland China. That made Beijing even more advanced than Hong Kong, Singapore, San Francisco, Washington and Seoul in terms of rail transit development. This subway line was put into trial operation on 15 January 1971. However, being classified as an engineering project for wars at that time, it was not open to the public for civil use, and only the personnel who had an attestation from their institutions could make a visit to it. Moreover, because of technical issues, accidents happened frequently in the following decade.
The trial run of the first subway line for more than ten years was ended on 15 September 1981 when it was officially opened to the public for civil use. Afterwards, on 20 September 1984, the second subway line was also put into operation, which linked Fu-xing-men in the west to Jian-guo-men in the east in the “n” shape, with a mileage of 16.1 km and 12 stations. On 28 December 1987, following the completion of new constructions, the two subway lines were restructured to form two new lines, that is, Line 1 running from Ping-guo-yuan in the west to Fu-xing-men in the east and Line 2 running along the inner city wall of the Old City of Beijing. Later on, till 28 June 2000, Line 1 had been extended further eastwards to Si-hui Station.
During the period from 1965 to 2000, only 42 km of subways had been constructed in Beijing. But
after the subway lines were put into operation successively for civil use in the early 1980s, the annual passenger transport volume had increased rapidly, from 72.5 million in 1982 to 558 million in 1995.
Since 2001, Beijing has seen a rapid development of rail transit. In that year, in order to welcome the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Beijing Municipal Government announced the construction of 200 km subways with an investment of more than 60 billion RMB. During 2002 to 2003, Line 13 and Batong Line were put into operation successively; later on, from 2007 to 2010, more lines were put into operation one after another, including Line 5 in 2007, Line 10, Airport Line and Olympic Line in 2008, Line 4 in 2009, and Yi-zhuang Line, Da-xing Line, Phase I of Fang-shan Line, Phase I of Line 15 (i.e. Shun-yi Line) and Phase I of Chang-ping Line in 2010. As a result, today, Beijing has a subway system composed of 14 lines of 336 km mileage (Fig. 1, Tables 1 and 2).
Figure 1: Subway lines in operation in Beijing till 2010 Source: http://img3.17zo.com/newImgs/bjsubway.jpg
Table 1. Technical indexes of Beijing’s subway lines by the end of 2008
Name
Annual point
Running
Minimum
Trains in
Single-way
fulfillment
speed
departure
operation
transportation
rate (%)
(km/h)
interval (min)
(times/day)
capacity (person/h)
Line 1
114.0
33.8
2.5
562
34,300
Line 2
90.0
31.4
2.5
485
34,300
Line 13
100.0
45.2
3.0
454
28,600
97.0
36.1
3.0
361
28,600
110.0
32.7
3.0
420
28,600
Line 8 (Phase I)
6.0
38.1
7.0
436
11,700
Line 10 (Phase I)
92.0
32.5
3.5
462
25,000
Airport Line
32.0
64.8
15.0
144
1,800
Batong Line Line 5
Source: Transportation Research Institute of Tsinghua University. PPP: case study of Beijing Subway Line. April, 2010. Table 2: General information of Beijing’s five suburban subway lines by the end of 2010 Planned status Name
Starting & ending
Operation status
Mileage
Starting and
Mileage
ending points
(km)
Stations
Stations points
(km)
Gong-yi-xi-qiao –
Gong-yi-xi-qiao –
Da-xing Line
21.7
12
Tian-gong-yuan
Tian-gong-yuan
Song-jia-zhuang
Song-jia-zhuang
21.7
12
23.2
14
22.1
10
21.2
7
20.2
9
108.4
52
Yi-zhuang – Yi-zhuang
23.2
14
– Yi-zhuang
Line Railway Station Fang-shan
Railway Station
Guo-gong-zhuan
Da-bao-tai – 24.8
Line
g – Su-zhuang
Chang-ping
Xi-er-qi – Ming
Su-zhuang Xi-er-qi – 31.5
Line
Tombs
Shun-yi Line
Xi-yuan –
Total
11 Nan-shao Wang-jing West
45.4 (Line 15)
11
22
Feng-bo
– Hou-sha-yu 146.7
70
Source: Beijing Municipal Commission of Communications. 12th Five-Year Plan for Transportation Development of Beijing. 2011.
Along with the rapid development of rail transit in Beijing, the record of daily passenger transportation volume has been renewed rapidly (Table 3), even for eight times in 2010. A new record was created on 29 April 2011, with the daily passenger transportation volume of the 12 lines owned by Beijing Subway Operation Corporation Limited rising up to 6.2 million person-times and that of Line 4 and Daxing Line owned by Beijing MTR Corporation Limited reaching 1.04 million person-times, leading to the total daily passenger transportation volume of Beijing’s subway system up to 7.25 million person-times (Table 4). Apart from the constant increase of passenger transportation volume, the large-scale subway construction has also changed the transportation structure of Beijing, with the percentage of public transportation increasing from 30.2% in 2006 to 38.9% in 2009, in which the percentage of rail transit increased from 13.6% to 29.0%. Table 3: Operation status of Beijing’s subway lines during 2005-2009 Running
Operation
distance
Mileage
(million km)
(km)
Passenger Trains in operation Year
transportation volume (thousand times) (million person-times)
2005
680
467
114
2006
703
495
73.1
114
2007
655
575
87.9
142
2008
1,216
1,014
146.3
200
2009
1,423
1,207
177.1
228
Growth rate
109%
159%
100%
Source: Beijing Municipal Commission of Communications. 12th Five-Year Plan for Transportation Development of Beijing. 2011. Table 4: Operation status of Beijing’s existing subway lines in early 2010 Minimum
Average daily passen-
Maximum
ger transportation
full load
volume (thousand
section
person-times)
rate
Operation
Trains in departure
stations
operation
Name interval
(km)
(times) (minutes)
mileage
Line 1
2’15”
52
1,070
117%
23
31
Line 2
2
39
951
70%
18
23
Line 4
3
37
608
98%
24
28
Line 13
3
40
465
115%
16
41
Batong Line
3
20
225
127%
13
19
Line 5
2’50”
37
660
129%
23
28
Line 10
3’30”
28
614
116%
22
25
Line 8
7
3
24
16%
4
5
Airport Line
15
4
16
49%
4
28
Total
—
260
4,632
—
147
228
Source: Beijing Municipal Commission of Communications. 12th Five-Year Plan for Transportation Development of Beijing. 2011.
2. Policy-making for Beijing’s rail transit development 2.1 Planning system concerning rail transit development In Beijing, the governmental departments involved in the policy-making of rail transit development include Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning, Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, and Beijing Municipal Commission of Communications. Under the direct guidance of Beijing Municipal Government, they are responsible for defining the development policies and implementation measures of rail transit through a top-down planning system. z
City Master Plan of Beijing: compiled under the organization of Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning, it may define the principle regulations on the long-term development of rail transit, including objectives, strategies and key index, in the chapters dedicated to comprehensive transportation system planning.
z
Outline of Five-Year Plan for Socio-Economic Development of Beijing: compiled under the organization of Beijing Municipal Commission of Development and Reform, it may define the detailed requirements for the short-term development of rail transit, in particular the construction programs, according to the actual demands of Beijing’s socio-economic development.
z
Outline of Transportation Development of Beijing: compiled under the organization of Beijing Municipal Commission of Communications, it may define the general objectives and planning principles for the long-term development of rail transit.
z
Five-Year Plan for Transportation Development of Beijing: compiled under the organization of Beijing Municipal Commission of Communications, it may, with reference to the relevant regulations defined by the Beijing City Master Plan and the Outline of Five-Year Plan for Socio-Economic Development of Beijing, deepen the general objectives and planning principles for the long-term development of rail transit defined by the Outline of Transportation Development of Beijing and detail them into specific programs for gradual implementation phase by phase.
z
Annual Plan for Transportation Development of Beijing: compiled under the organization of Beijing Municipal Commission of Communications, it may define the annual implementation plan of rail transit construction based on the Five-Year Plan for Transportation Development of Beijing.
z
Annual Plan for Infrastructure Maintenance of Beijing and Annual Plan for Transportation Industry of Beijing: compiled respectively under the organization of Beijing Municipal Road Administration Bureau and Beijing Municipal Transportation Administration Bureau which are subordinate to Beijing Municipal Commission of Communications, they may define the regulations with respect to the construction and management of rail transit in more details. The two Bureaus are also responsible respectively for supervising the implementation of the two plans.
Generally speaking, the City Master Plan of Beijing, the Outline of Five-Year Plan for Socio-Economic Development of Beijing, and the Outline of Transportation Development of Beijing are of strategic plan with different characteristics. The City Master Plan of Beijing focuses on the strategic perspectives for the medium and long-term urban development of Beijing in a comprehensive way, thus the relevant regulations on rail transit are usually more in principle. The Outline of Five-Year Plan for Socio-Economic Development of Beijing focuses on the strategic perspectives for the short-term urban development of Beijing also in a comprehensive way, but the relevant regulations on rail transit are more in details compared with the former. The Outline of Transportation Development of Beijing focuses on the strategic perspectives for the medium and long-term transportation development of Beijing, with more specified and deepened regulations on rail transit. While in contrast, the Five-Year Plan for Transportation Development of Beijing and the Annual Plan for Transportation Development of Beijing focus more on the implementation of the relevant regulations on rail transit by deepening and detailing those that are defined in the above strategic plans.
Within this top-down planning system, all the superior plans are instructive to the inferior ones, while all the inferior plans should be in line with the superior ones. At the strategic planning level, the City Master Plan of Beijing, Outline of Five-Year Plan for Socio-Economic Development of Beijing, and Outline of Transportation Development of Beijing should be coordinated and interconnected with each other (Figure 2).
Figure 2: Top-down planning system of Beijing concerning rail transit development
2.2 Actual policies of rail transit development in Beijing 2.2.1 Policies stated in City Master Plan of Beijing 2004-2020 In early 2005, the State Council of People’s Republic of China approved the City Master Plan of Beijing 2004-2020 which articulates the objectives, strategies and indexes of rail transit development of Beijing by the end of the planning period.
The development objectives are to establish a comprehensive passenger transportation system, with public transportation as main body, rail transit as key factor, and various transportation modes being coordinated by 2020, when the central urban area should be covered by a rail transit network consisting of various transportation modes, such as subway, light rail and suburban railway which links it to the suburban New Cities of Tongzhou, Shunyi, Yizhuang, Daxing, Fangshan and Changping. The development strategies include accelerating the development of rail transit and rapid bus transport, ensuring in priority the lands for various public transportation facilities, adjusting and optimizing the structure and layout of public transportation network, improving the transportation environment, and promoting the efficiency of transit exchange. The key index of rail transit by 2020 include completing the construction of 19 rail transit lines of 570 km mileage, including 15 in the central urban area and four in the suburban area (Table 5), planning the construction of 30 vehicle depots, 20 parking lots, and three repair shops and reserving lands for them, ensuring that public transportation occupies no less than 50% of the total passenger travel volume when the daily figure goes up to 52 to 55 million person-times by 2020, and the rail transit and rapid bus transport occupy more than 50% of the passenger transportation volume of public transportation.
Table 5: Schedules of rail transit development before 2020
Metro
Type
No.
Name
Starting & ending points
Mileage (km)
Actual situation
1
M1
Ping-guo-yuan – Tu-qiao
51.2
In operation
2
M2
Xi-zhi-men – Xi-zhi-men
23.1
In operation
3
M3
Wu-lu – Dong-ba
26.9
In planning
4
M4
Long-bei-cun – Ma-jia-lou
28.7
In construction
5
M5
Tai-ping-zhuang-bei – Song-jia-zhuang
27.6
In construction
6
M6
Tian-cun – Tong-zhou
38.7
In planning
7
M7
West Railway Station – Lu-dian
28.1
In planning
8
M8
Hui-long-guan – Drum & Bell Towers
15.2
In construction
9
M9
World Park – National Library
18.0
In planning
10
M10
Lan-dian-chang – Song-jia-zhuang
32.3
In construction
11
M11
Fragrance Hill – Song-jia-zhuang
33.7
In planning
12
M13
Xi-zhi-men – Wang-jing-xi
32.9
In operation
13
M15
Dong-zhi-men – Shun-yi
32.0
Partially in operation Subtotal: 13 lines
386.2
14
L1
Dong-zhi-men – Airport
21.8
In planning
15
L2
Song-jia-zhuang – Yi-zhuang
20.8
In planning
Light
Suburban railway
rail Subtotal : 2 lines
42.6
16
S2
North Railway Station – Chang-ping
34.2
In planning
17
S4
South Railway Station – Huang-cun
24.3
In planning
18
S5
South Railway Station – Liang-xiang
36.7
In planning
19
S6
Shun-yi – Yi-zhuang
44.5
In planning
Subtotal : 4 lines
Total : 19 lines
139.7 571.1
Source: Beijing Municipal Government. City Master Plan of Beijing 2004-2020. 2005.
In addition, the City Master Plan of Beijing 2004-2020 states that, in the long-term, the rail transit system of Beijing should consist of two systems, that is the subway system in the central urban area and the suburban railway system in the suburban areas. The subway system will be composed of 22 lines, including 16 metro lines and 6 light rail lines, with a planned mileage of 700 km and structured in a chessboard layout with two rings and several radiating ones, which should serve the central urban area, the peripheral urban clusters, and the new cities nearby the central
urban area. The suburban railway system will be composed of six lines, with a planned mileage of 430 km and structured in a radial layout, which should serve the new cities and the zones between the new cities and the central urban area (Fig. 3).
Figure 3: Rail transit system of Beijing in the long-term Left: Metro system in the central urban area Right: Suburban railway system in the suburban areas Source: Beijing Municipal Government. City Master Plan of Beijing 2004-2020. 2005.
2.2.2 Policies stated in Outline of 12th Five-Year Plan for Socio-Economic Development of Beijing 2011-2015 In early 2011, Beijing Municipal Government issued the Outline of 12th Five-Year Plan for Socio-Economic Development of Beijing which articulates that the construction of complete infrastructure should become a key measure for better adapting to the development of economy and society and better serving the life of the citizens. Regarding the rail transit development, it is stated that great efforts should be made to implement the strategy of giving priority to public transportation through the gradual completion of a public transportation network that relies on rail transit and rapid bus transport and is efficient in transit exchange, accelerate in priority the construction of rail transit in the central urban area, in particular the construction of 561 km mileage in the short term (Fig. 4), so as to raise the percentage of public transportation in the passenger travel volume in the central urban area up to 50%, and promote the densification of rail transit lines in the central urban area, so as to increase the mileage of rail transit in operation up to 660 km by 2015.
Figure 4: Rail transit system of Beijing by 2015. Source: Beijing Municipal Government. Outline of 12th Five-Year Plan for Socio-Economic and Development of Beijing. 2011.
Although the development objectives stated in the Outline of 12th Five-Year Plan for Socio-Economic and Development of Beijing slightly differ from those stated in the City Master Plan of Beijing 2004-2020 in terms of implementation schedule, they are basically consistent with the later ones in terms of index.
2.2.3 Policies stated in Outline of Transportation Development of Beijing 2004-2020 In April 2005, Beijing Municipal Government issued the Outline of Transportation Development of Beijing 2004-2020 which became a guideline for the formulation of transportation plans, transportation policies and implementation plans during the planning period. Based on the summarization of historical experience, the analysis on actual problems, and the perspective for future development, it puts forward the objective of building a “new transportation system of Beijing� and defines the strategic approaches, general policies and short-term action plans for achieving this objective.
Regarding rail transit, the development objectives are to complete the construction of an urban bus transport system which takes rapid and mass bus transport as core and integrates other bus transport modes, accelerate the construction of a rail transit system consisting of suburban
railways, subways, light rails and tramways, and improve the traffic situation in the central urban area, so as to form a powerful support for the urban development in the peripheral urban clusters, and the new cities in the suburban areas as well. By 2010, the total mileage of rail transit should be up to 250-300 km, with its daily passenger transportation volume increasing from 1.3 million person-times in 2003 to four to five million person-times and its percentage in public transportation increasing from 10% in 2003 to about 25%. The development strategies include distributing and utilizing the resources of transportation facility in a reasonable way, in line with the requirements of sustainable urban development and the principles of equality and efficiency, and giving priority to the development of public transportation including rail transit in various aspects, such as land-use, investment, finance and taxation, and the distribution of road rights. The construction program includes the completion of the key rail transit construction projects before 2010, including Line 4, Line 5, Phase I of Line 10, northern section of Line 8 (Olympic Line), Line 9, Airport Line, and the rail lines linking the central urban area to the new cities, such as Yi-zhuang, in the suburban areas, the technical renovation of Line 1 and Line 2, and the synchronic construction of transit exchange facilities between rail transit and other transportation modes.
Obviously, compared with the general policies stated in the City Master Plan of Beijing 2004-2020, the policies of rail transit development stated in the Outline of Transportation Development of Beijing 2004-2020, including development objective, development strategies, and construction programs, are more detailed with more focus on the implementation of construction projects.
2.2.4 Policies stated in 12th Five-Year Plan for Transportation Development of Beijing 2011-2015 In June, 2011, Beijing Municipal Commission of Communications issued the 12th Five-Year Plan for Transportation Development of Beijing which, in the section on rail transit, summarizes the general condition and actual problems of rail transit development in Beijing during the 11th Five-Year Plan period from 2006 to 2010, analyzes the trends and challenges of rail transit development in future, and then prescribes the fundamental concepts, general objectives and detailed index and programs of rail transit construction during the 12th Five-Year Plan period from 2011 to 2015 based on the City Master Plan of Beijing 2004-2020, Outline of 12th Five-Year Plan for Socio-Economic Development of Beijing, and Outline of Transportation Development of Beijing 2004-2020.
In detail, the fundamental concepts are enlarging the scale, increasing the capacity, improving the
efficiency, building a comprehensive transportation system, and promoting the sustainable development of rail transit. The general objectives include densifying the railway network and improving the subway accessibility in the central urban area, so as to ensure the key standing of rail transit in the public transportation system and effectively alleviate the traffic jam in the central urban area; extending the rail transit network to the new cities in the suburban areas, so as to play the guiding and supporting roles of rail transit on the restructuring and optimization of the spatial structure of urban development; promoting the refined management and improving the operation level of rail transit with due focus on both construction and management; and building up a green travel system centering on rail transit and coordinating various transportation modes. The short-term programs are completing the construction of 10 rail transit lines, including Line 6, Phase II of Line 8, Line 9, Phase II of Line 10, Phase II of Line 15, Line 7, Line 14, West Suburb Line, Line S1, and Phase II of Changping Line (Table 6), initiating the network densification project with the construction of Line 16 and Yanfang Line, and initiating the preliminary studies on the construction of Line 11, Line 12, Line 3, Phase III of Line 8, Line S6 and Airport Contact Line (Table 7). It is expected that, by the end of the planning period, that is the year 2015, the total mileage of rail transit of Beijing would be up to 598 km, the minimum departure interval of the existing key lines in rush hours would be two minutes and that of the new key lines would be three to four minutes, the daily passenger transportation volume would rise up to more than 10 million person-times, and the network density within the 5th Ring Road would be 0.52 km/km2 so that the average distance to the nearest subway station would be no more than 1,000 m. Table 6: General information about the rail transit lines of Beijing to be put into operation during the 12th Five-Year Plan period Name West
Mileag
Number of
Year in
e (km)
stations
operation
Starting and ending points
Suburb Ba-gou – Fragrance Hill
9.80
6
2011
16.85
13
2012
17.46
12
2012
Jin-song – Ba-gou
32.49
24
2012
Wu-lu – Cao-fang
30.10
19
2012
West Railway Station – Coaling Plant
23.90
23
2013
Line Line 9
Guo-gong-zhuang – Bai-shi-qiao
Phase II of Line
Ping-xi-fu – Olympic Forest Park
8
Bei-tu-cheng – National Art Gallery East Street
Phase II of Line 10 Phase I of Line 6 Line 7
Line S1
Wu-lu – Men-tou-gou
27.00
11
2013
Line 14
Chang-xin-dian-dong-he-yan-lu – Lai-guang-ying
46.30
34
2014
Phase II of Line
Xi-yuan – Wang-jing; 25.40
13
2014
15
Nan-fa-xin – Chao-bai-he East South Chang-ping - Miniature Park
16.70
6
2015
Cao-fang – Dong-xiao-ying
12.00
7
2015
Phase II of Changping Line Phase II of Line 6 Source: Beijing Municipal Commission of Communications. 12th Five-Year Plan for Transportation Development of Beijing. 2011. Table 7: General information about the planned rail transit lines of Beijing during the 12th Five-Year Plan period Name
Starting and ending points
Mileage
Situation in the 12th
(km)
Five-Year Plan Period
Yong-feng Science & Technology Park – M16
45.3
Initiation of construction
11.8
Initiation of construction
Feng-tai Science & Technology Park Yan-fang Line
Liang-xiang – Yan-hua
Line 11
Shou-gang - Chemical Plant II
36
Initiation of studies
Line 12
Si-ji-qing – Jiu-xian-qiao
24
Initiation of studies
Line 3
Tian-cun – Dong-ba
20
Initiation of studies
Wang-fu-jing – Nan-yuan
16
Initiation of studies
Shun-yi – Fang-shan
98
Initiation of studies
Beijing Capital Airport - New Airport
71
Initiation of studies
Phase II of Line 8 S6 Airport Contact Line Source: Beijing Municipal Commission of Communications. 12th Five-Year Plan for Transportation Development of Beijing. 2011.
3 Investment and financing of Beijing’s rail transit construction 3.1 Investment composition In Beijing, the investment of rail transit construction covers the costs for preparatory studies, facility constructions, mechanical and electrical equipments, rolling stock purchase and others. In detail, it concerns 16 aspects including planning and design, station, sectional depot, rail, vehicle
base, building, communication system, signal system, electric power supply and electrification, environment control and ventilation, disaster prevention and alarm, equipment control system, automatic ladder and elevator, automatic ticket selling system, water supply and drainage and fire prevention system, rolling stock and others. Based on the analysis on the investment composition of Subway Line 4, 5 and 10, the investment composition of rail transit in Beijing is roughly 16-18% for preparatory studies, 40-45% for facility constructions, 15%-18% for mechanical and electrical equipments, 9-14% for rolling stock purchase, and 14% for others. It can be seen clearly that, in this composition, the investments for facility constructions and mechanical and electrical equipments occupy a high percentage of over 70% (Table 8). Table 8: Investment composition for the construction of Subway Line 4, 5 and 10 of Beijing Line 4 (%)
Line 5 (%)
Line 10 (%)
Preparatory studies
17.45
15.88
15.68
Facility constructions
39.90
41.21
44.93
Mechanical & electrical equipments
16.69
14.89
17.17
Vehicle purchases
12.40
14.25
8.72
Others
13.56
13.77
13.49
Total
100.00
100.00
100.00
Source: XU Lili and WANG Yuanfeng. Analysis on the investment composition of rail transit in Beijing. 2006.
3.2 Investment and financing modes In the past half century, following the changes of the socio-economic development of China, Beijing has adopted various modes of investment and financing for its rail transit construction (Table 9). Table 9: Various investment and financing modes of rail transit construction in Beijing Name
Total investment (billion RMB)
Investment and financing mode
Line 1 4.0
Direct governmental investment
Line 13
6.7
Governmental investment by statutory
Batong Line
3.4
representative
Line 2
Line 5
12.0 Governmental investment as key and
Phase I of Line 8 enterprise loans as supplement Phase I of Line 10 Olympic Line
2.5
Build and transfer
Line 4
15.9
Line 9
6.7
Public-Private Partnership Design- Build- Finance- Operation
Source: Transportation Research Institute of Tsinghua University. PPP Case Study of Beijing Subway Line 4. 2010. Slightly changed by the authors.
During the period of planned economy, as well as in the early stage of reform and opening-up, Beijing adopted the government-based integrated mode of investment-build-operation-supervision for the construction of its first two subway lines, i.e. Line 1 and 2. All the construction fund was appropriated from the financial revenue of the Central Government and all the construction, operation and supervision were planned and managed by the Municipal Government. Under the condition of planned economy, the local government could make the decision of building rail transit according to the demand of socio-economic development of Beijing, without any consideration on the issue of investment return or benefit.
In the early 21st century, the traditional integrated investment mode was continued in the construction of Line 13 and Batong Line. However, in line with the new changes following the development of market economy, the mechanism of statutory representative was introduced. In July 2001, Beijing Subway Corporation Limited, transformed from the original Beijing Metro Corporation who was in charge of the construction of the first two subway lines, was established by Beijing Municipal Government, becoming the main player in charge of the investment, construction and operation of subway lines. At that time, the investments of rail transit came mainly from governmental investments, bank loans, in particular from China Development Bank and foreign banks, and a few amounts of investment from state-owned enterprises.
Afterwards, along with the constant development of market economy, the investment and financing for rail transit construction was gradually separated from the construction, operation and supervision of rail transit, such as what happened in the construction of Line 5, Phase I of Line 8 and Phase I of Line 10.
In November 2003, Beijing Subway Corporation Limited was further transformed into Beijing Infrastructure Investment Corporation Limited according to the Corporation Law of People’s Republic of China, with the funding coming from Beijing Municipal Commission of State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration. As a corporation funded uniquely by the state, Beijing Infrastructure Investment Corporation Limited is in charge of the capital operation of rail transit of
Beijing and its funding sources include governmental investments, stocks and bonds, bank loans, and so on.
The investment and financing mode of PPP, i.e. Private-Public Partnership, was firstly applied in the construction of Line 4 which was put into operation in 2009, and then Daxing Line as well which was put into operation at the end of 2010. Among the construction investment of 15.3 billion RMB for Line 4, 70% came from Beijing Municipal Government via Beijing Infrastructure Investment Corporation Limited, while the other 30% came from the concession company, i.e. Beijing MTR Corporation Limited.
At present in Beijing, the funding sources for rail transit construction include mainly direct governmental investments by way of either financial appropriation or buying a share, subsidies or interest discount from governments of various levels, bank loans, self-owned funds, issuing bonds and stocks, direct foreign investment, and so on.
3.3 PPP mode applied in Line 4 As the first foreign invested cooperation company in urban rail transit sector in mainland China, Beijing MTR Corporation Limited was established in January 2006 with a joint investment of 49% from Beijing Capital Group, 49% from Hong Kong MTR Corporation Limited, and 2% from Beijing Infrastructure Investment Corporation Limited. According to the Concession Agreement on Operation of Subway Line 4 of Beijing jointly signed by Beijing Municipal Government and Beijing MTR Corporation Limited, the later was responsible for the construction and operation of Line 4 through Public-Private Partnership and endowed with the concession rights of developing other relevant business for 30 years upon the completion of the whole project. The Concession Agreement also clarified the responsibilities of Beijing MTR Corporation Limited for the investment of mechanical and electrical equipments and the operation of the rail transit line, as well as the detailed regulations on the construction and operation standards of the line, the handover of the facilities at the end of the concession term, and so on.
According to the Concession Agreement and the budget, the total investment of Line 4 of 15.3 billion RMB is divided into two parts. Part A, being about 10.7 billion RMB accounting for 70% of the total investment, is funded by Beijing Infrastructure Investment Corporation Limited to mainly cover the costs for land requisition, civil construction (including subway stations, tunnels, vehicle deposits and parking lots), rail construction, civil defense engineering construction; while Part B,
being about 4.6 billion RMB accounting for 30% of the total investment, is funded by Beijing MTR Corporation Limited, as concession company under the PPP term, to mainly cover the costs for purchasing and installing rolling stock, automatic ticket selling and checking systems, signal and communication systems, air-conditioning and ventilation systems, water supply and drainage systems, fire prevention system, automatic ladders and elevators, control devices, power supply facilities, and so on, as well as for renting the tunnels and structures of Part A.
Moreover, according to the Concession Agreement, some assets of Part A owned by Beijing Infrastructure Investment Corporation Limited, in particular the tunnels and structures, would be leased to Beijing MTR Corporation Limited for operation after the construction is completed. Thus, in the early stage of operation, the symbolic leasing price can be a guarantee for Beijing Infrastructure Investment Corporation Limited to achieve a reasonable return of governmental investment; while in the mature stage of operation, it can also help to avoid the excessive profit of Beijing MTR Corporation Limited through reasonable increase or decrease (Fig. 5).
Figure 5: Investors and contract relationships of Beijing Subway Line 4 Source: Transportation Research Institute of Tsinghua University. PPP Case Study of Beijing Subway Line 4. 2010. With slight changes by the authors.
4 Implementation of rail transit construction projects in Beijing At present in Beijing, the rail transit construction projects are mainly programmed by Beijing Infrastructure Investment Corporation Limited according to the statutory plans mentioned above, and then entrusted via contracts to Beijing Rail Transit Construction & Management Corporation
Limited for implementation. It means that Beijing Rail Transit Construction & Management Corporation Limited, as a state-owned company funded by Beijing Municipal Commission of State-Owned Assets Supervision and Administration following the approval of Beijing Municipal Government, is the key organizer of Beijing’s rail transit construction who is responsible for the full-process management on the rail transit construction projects, including preliminary design, construction design, purchase biding , rail and civil constructions, interior decoration, equipment installation, and the system design, commissioning, launching, acceptance and delivery of new lines. The implementation of rail transit construction projects requires a series of application and approval by the governmental departments, which can be roughly divided into the examination and approval before the construction and the examination and acceptance after the construction (Table 10). Table 10: Procedure of declaration, approval and implementation for rail transit construction projects Steps 1 2 3 4
Administrator
Administration items
Beijing Municipal Commission of Development &
Approving or verifying the
Reform
construction investment
Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning
Checking and issuing the Planning
(Infrastructure Planning Department)
Position Paper on Project Location
Beijing Municipal Bureau of Land & Resources
Primarily examining the land
(Land Use Department)
utilization
Beijing Municipal Committee of Communications
Examining the design scheme
(Transportation Planning Department) Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning (Transportation Engineering Department)
Examination and approval before construction
Fire Protection Authority, Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau Beijing Municipal Civil Air Defense Office Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape & Forestry Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau Beijing Municipal Earthquake Bureau 5
Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning
Checking, ratifying and issuing the
(Transportation Engineering Department)
Planning Permit of Construction Land
6
Beijing Municipal Bureau of Land & Resources
Checking, ratifying and issuing the
(Beijing Land Utilization Center)
Certificate of State-Owned Land Utilization
7
8
Beijing Municipal Construction Committee
Checking, ratifying and issuing the
(Office of Construction Management)
Construction Permit
Beijing Road Administration Bureau
Checking, ratifying and issuing the Permit of Occupying, Excavating & Deviating Roads
Check and acceptance after construction
9
Beijing Municipal Commission of Urban Planning
Checking, accepting and
(Law Enforcement Supervision Division)
recording the completed construction projects in line with urban planning terms
Traffic Enforcement Authority, Beijing Municipal
Checking, accepting and
Public Security Bureau
recording the completed
Fire Protection Authority, Beijing Municipal
construction projects respectively
Public Security Bureau
in line with specific terms
Beijing Municipal Civil Air Defense Office Beijing Municipal Bureau of Landscape & Forestry Beijing Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau Beijing Municipal Earthquake Bureau 10
Beijing Municipal Urban Development Archives
Filing
Source: LIU Jian and MAO Qizhi. Balanced Development of Land-use & Transportation. China City Planning Review, Vol.17, No.1, 2008, P52-61.
5 Operation management and supervision of Beijing’s rail transit Currently in Beijing, there are two operating organizations of rail transit, Beijing Subway Operation Corporation Limited and Beijing MTR Corporation Limited. The former is responsible for the operation and management of Line 1, Line 2, Line 5, Line 8, Line 10, Line 13, Line 15, Batong Line, Airport Line, Changping Line, Yizhuang Line and Fangshan Line, while the later is responsible for the operation and management of Line 4 and Daxing Line. Their business includes running of vehicles, passenger transportation, electrical power dispatching, power supply, communication signal, mechanical and electrical circuit, as well as others related to rail transit such as vehicle manufacturing, engineering supervision, design, study and consulting, advertisement, underground communication, cultural industry, commerce and business, tourism and recreation, education and training, building and installation, property management, and so on. Beijing Municipal Transportation Administration Bureau subordinate to Beijing Municipal Commission of Communications is responsible for supervising the operation of the 14 rail transit lines.
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