Line 3 (Guangzhou Metro)

Line 3 of the Guangzhou Metro is a 65.43-kilometer (40.66 mi) rapid transit line connects Panyu Square to Tianhe Coach Terminal. The entire line, including all track and stations, is located in tunnels.^[4] Its 57.93 km (36.00 mi) main branch, excluding the 7.5 km (4.66 mi) branch between Tianhe Coach Terminal and Tiyu Xilu, is now the third longest continuous subway tunnel in the world, and the longest rail tunnel of any kind (surpassing the Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland).

Line 3
Platform of Tiyu Xilu
Overview
Other name(s)	M3 (5 lines plan name) M6 (7 lines plan name) M3 (2000 plan name) Southern-Northern express line (南北快线) Shiqiao line (市桥线) Airport line (机场线)
Status	Operational
Owner	City of Guangzhou
Locale	Panyu, Haizhu, Tianhe, Baiyun, and Huadu districts Guangzhou, Guangdong
Termini	Tiyu Xilu/Panyu Square Airport North (Terminal 2)/Tianhe Coach Terminal
Stations	30
Service
Type	Rapid transit
System	Guangzhou Metro
Services	2
Operator(s)	Guangzhou Metro Corporation
Rolling stock	120 Siemens Mobility-CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive Modular Metro cars^[1]
Daily ridership	1.318 million (Main Line), 871,400 (Airport Branch) (2019 Avg.)^[2] 2.759 million (2019 Main and Airport combined Peak)^[3]
History
Opened	26 December 2005; 18 years ago (2005-12-26)
Technical
Line length	65.43 km (40.66 mi)
Number of tracks	2
Character	Underground
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Electrification	Overhead lines, 1,500 V DC
Operating speed	120 km/h (75 mph)
Route map Legend Airport North (Terminal 2) Airport South (Terminal 1)  9  to Fei'eling Gaozeng  9  connection to Line 9 Renhe Liuxi River Longgui  14  to Dongfeng/Zhenlong Jiahe Depot Jiahewanggang  2   14   14  to Guangzhou Railway Station  2  to Guangzhou South Railway Station Baiyundadaobei Yongtai Tonghe Jingxi Nanfang Hospital Meihuayuan  6  to Xiangxue Tianhe Coach Terminal  6  Yantang  6   6  to Xunfenggang branch line (After 2024  10 ) Wushan Guangshen railway South China Normal University  11   11  clockwise Gangding Shipaiqiao to Guangzhou Railway Station Guangzhou East Railway Station  1   11   11  anti-clockwise Linhexi  APM  Tiyu Xilu  1   1  to Xilang  13  to Chaoyang to Xinsha Zhujiang New Town  5   5  to Jiaokou to Wenchong Pearl River Pearl River Canton Tower  APM  Chigang Pagoda Yard  12  to Xunfenggang to Higher Education Mega Center South Kecun  8   8  to Jiaoxin to Wanshengwei Datang  11   11  clockwise anti-clockwise Lijiao  Guangfo   Guangfo  to Xincheng Dong Pearl River Xiajiao Depot Xiajiao Sanzhixiang Creek Dashi original Line 7 alignment  7  to Meidi Dadao to Higher Education Mega Center South Hanxi Changlong  7   22  to Chentougang Shiqiao  18  to Wanqingsha to Xiancun Panyu Square  18   22  East extension (under construction) Bangjiang Yanzhou Yard Shiqinan Haichong Lu  4  to Nansha Passenger Port to Huangcun Haibang  4  This diagram: view talk edit

Line 3
Simplified Chinese	广州地铁3号线
Traditional Chinese	廣州地鐵3號線
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Guǎngzhōu Dìtiě Sān Hào Xiàn Yue: Cantonese Jyutping gwong^2zau^1 dei^6tit^3 saam^1 hou^6 sin^3
Shiqiao line
Simplified Chinese	市桥线
Traditional Chinese	市橋線
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Shìqiáo Xiàn Yue: Cantonese Jyutping si^5kiu^4 sin^3
Airport line
Simplified Chinese	机场线
Traditional Chinese	機場線
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Jīchǎng Xiàn Yue: Cantonese Jyutping gei^1coeng^4 sin^3

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.^[5] The line uses Seltrac S40 communications-based train control from Alcatel.^[6]

History

 

Line 3 drawn to scale.

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 with the proposed Zhujiang New Town CBD, crossing the Pearl River to Chigang station on what was then Line 2 and turning east to Xinzhou.^[7] 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.^[7] 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 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,^[7] 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. A branch line was added between Tiyu Xilu station and Tianhe Coach Terminal station.^[8] The change was done in response with the local government's "Southern Expansion" plan to develop the southern areas of Guangzhou.^[8] This plan required faster transportation links with Panyu District 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.^[9] 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.^[10] Additionally, a separate Airport Express line between Guangzhou's New Baiyun International Airport and the new CBD was proposed.^[11]

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.^[12] On February 8, 2003 tunnel boring machines begin boring tunnels on the first section of Line 3.^[13] Tunnel boring machines beginning boring tunnels on a section of Line 3 at Tiyu Xilu station. Tiyu Xilu Station will use cut-and-cover construction with a bored section in the middle where it runs under Line 1 with only 80 cm (31 in) of cover.^[14] On May 30, 2003 Construction work at Shiqiao station was completed and capped one month ahead of schedule.^[15] At the same time, Lijiao station begin construction works.^[16] 99 sets of escalators were purchased from Hitachi for the project.^[17] 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 and Panyu Square.^[7] 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.^[18] 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 (140 km/h (87 mph)) operations were proposed for the Airport Line to allow for distinct airport express and regular local services similar to the MTR Tung Chung line and Airport Express in Hong Kong.^[19] The express services would run between Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport and Tiyu Xilu and only stop at what is today Jiahewanggang, Yantang, Guangzhou East railway stations.^[19] The Phase 2 Project extends Line 3 north to the new airport on a mostly elevated alignment.^[20] In 2007, 17 km (10.56 mi) of Phase 2 line also redesigned to run underground instead of elevated at a cost of an additional 1 billion Yuan.^[21][22] With the redesigned underground alignment, passing loops for express services were removed to control construction costs.^[19] The line was now completely transformed into a north south express line with wide stop spacings and 120 km/h (75 mph) operation in suburban sections instead of a local metro line, with aspects of an express railway link, as first envisioned.^[23] 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.^[24]

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 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.^[25][26] The new B2 and B4 series trains will have luggage racks to support Line 3's role as an airport rail link.^[26] 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.^[27] 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.^[28][29] In June 2017, the ridership of Line 3 has grown to average over 2 million passengers per day.^[30] In March 2018, the whole line heading in the peak direction of the Zhujiang New Town 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.^[31] The busiest section of Line 3 carries over 60,000 pphpd in 2018,^[32] 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.^[33] Peak period headways have been reduced to every 1 minute 58 seconds and now reaches fleet and signal system capacities.^[31] Line 18 and the proposed Line 26 are expected to relieve the congestion of Line 3.

Segment	Commencement	Length	Station(s)	Name
Kecun — Guangzhou East	26 December 2005	7.8 km (4.85 mi)	5	(northern section)
Panyu Square — Kecun	30 December 2006	19.6 km (12.18 mi)	7	(southern section)
Tiyu Xilu — Tianhe Coach Terminal		7.5 km (4.66 mi)	5	(spur section)
Airport South — Guangzhou East	30 October 2010	29.3 km (18.21 mi)	10	Northern extension
Gaozeng	28 December 2017	Infill station	1	Line 9 connector
Airport North — Airport South	26 April 2018	1.23 km (0.76 mi)	1	Airport extension

Train service

There are 4 types of train services offered on the metro line 3:

• Tiyu Xilu — Airport North (Terminal 2)
• Panyu Square — Tianhe Coach Terminal
• Panyu Square — Airport North (Terminal 2)
• Dashi ← Tonghe (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)

N	M	MN	Station No.		Station name		Connections	Distance km		Location
					English	Chinese
	●	●	3 01		Panyu Square	番禺广场	18   22	0.00	0.00	Panyu
	●	●	3 02		Shiqiao	市桥		3.86	3.86
	●	●	3 03		Hanxi Changlong	汉溪长隆	7	6.27	10.13
	●	●	3 04		Dashi	大石		2.44	12.57
	●	●	3 05		Xiajiao	厦滘		2.85	15.42
	●	●	3 06		Lijiao	沥滘	Guangfo	1.85	17.27	Haizhu
	●	●	3 07		Datang	大塘	11	2.57	19.84
	●	●	3 08		Kecun	客村	8	2.02	21.86
	●	●	3 09		Canton Tower	广州塔	APM     THZ1  OSI:  12  (Lingnan Square)	1.15	23.01
	●	●	3 10		Zhujiang New Town	珠江新城	5	1.51	24.52	Tianhe
●	●	●	3 11		Tiyu Xilu	体育西路	1   10    GBRT OSI:  APM  (Tianhenan) OSI:  13  (Huacheng Square North)	1.31	25.83
｜	●	｜	3 12		Shipaiqiao	石牌桥	GBRT	1.34	27.17
｜	●	｜	3 13		Gangding	岗顶	GBRT	0.85	28.02
｜	●	｜	3 14		South China Normal University	华师	11	0.88	28.90
｜	●	｜	3 15		Wushan	五山		1.59	30.49
｜	●	｜	3 16		Tianhe Coach Terminal	天河客运站	6	2.59	33.08
●		●	3 17		Linhexi	林和西	APM	1.15	34.23	Tianhe
●		●	3 18		Guangzhou East Railway Station	广州东站	1   11   18   GS    GGQ	1.09	35.32
●		●	3 19		Yantang	燕塘	6	1.07	36.39
●		●	3 20		Meihuayuan	梅花园		1.90	38.29	Baiyun
●		●	3 21		Jingxi Nanfang Hospital	京溪南方医院		1.36	39.65
●		●	3 22		Tonghe	同和		1.39	41.04
●		●	3 23		Yongtai	永泰		3.34	44.38
●		●	3 24		Baiyundadaobei	白云大道北		0.85	45.23
●		●	3 25		Jiahewanggang	嘉禾望岗	2   14	2.25	47.48
●		●	3 26		Longgui	龙归		6.30	53.78
●		●	3 27		Renhe	人和	22	5.37	59.15
●		●	3 28		Gaozeng	高增	9	2.46	61.61
●		●	3 29		Airport South (Terminal 1)	机场南（1号航站楼）	22    CAN	3.81	65.42	Huadu
●		●	3 30		Airport North (Terminal 2)	机场北（2号航站楼）	22    CAN   BBA	1.23	66.65

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 Tiyu Xilu and Tonghe: This service is only available during peak hours in the morning on weekdays. The southern end at starting service from September 25, 2018 is Panyu Square, and the southern end changing to Tiyu Xilu Station is from February 24, 2020.
• Between Airport North (Terminal 2) and Dashi: This service is only available during peak hours in the morning on weekdays.
• From Tonghe/Longgui/Jiahewanggang/Tianhe Coach Terminal to Dashi: 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 Dashi/Xiajiao/Kecun to Tianhe Coach Terminal: This service is available in the morning and evening peak hours.
• From Tiyu Xilu to Panyu Square: This service is available in the morning and evening peak hours.
• From Tiyu Xilu/Panyu Square to Jiahewanggang: 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 Linhexi/Guangzhou East Railway Station to Airport North (Terminal 2): 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 to Dongguan 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.^[34] However, the extension eastward beyond Panyu Square station was approved by National Development and Reform Commission to only reach Haibang station as part of Guangzhou's (2015–2025) subway expansion plan in March 2018.^[35] It was revealed that the extension to Hai'ou Island is reserved for future planning.^[35] The extension is 9.58 km long as will add four new stations and connect Line 3 to Line 4.^[36] Construction of this extension started November 19, 2018.^[37]

Station no.		Station name		Connections	Distance km		Location
		English	Chinese
3 01-1		Bangjiang	傍江				Panyu
3 01-2		Shiqinan	石碁南
3 01-3		Haichong Lu	海涌路
3 01-4		Haibang	海傍	4

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 120 km/h (75 mph) in service.^[38] As of 2020 there is currently a fleet of 71 six car trains serving Line 3.^[39] To accommodate increased fleet requirements for the eastern extension, an additional 10 six car trainsets have been ordered.^[40] In August 2020, plans were announced a further 18 additional trains to be purchased for Line 3 to reduce headways and improve capacity.^[41] This will push the fleet serving Line 3 to 99 trainsets.^[39]

Type	Time of manufacturing	Series	Sets	Assembly	Notes
Type B	2005–2007	B1	20	Mcp+T+Mcp=Mcp+T+Mcp	Manufactured by CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive and Siemens Mobility initially as 40 three car sets but later reformed into 20 six car sets.^[38]^[42]
	2009–2011	B2	25	Mc+Tp+M+M+Tp+Mc	First batch manufactured by CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive^[43]
	2011–2012	B4	26	Mc+Tp+M+M+Tp+Mc	Second batch manufactured by CRRC Zhuzhou Locomotive

•  
  Guangzhou Metro B1
•  
  Guangzhou Metro B2
•  
  Guangzhou Metro B4

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