While people were still enjoying the National Day holiday, builders at Wuhan subway construction sites quietly stayed at their posts. Currently, five subway lines are under construction in Wuhan, and the number of lines expected to start construction within this year may increase to 8–10. Greater Wuhan, now entering the subway era, will open one subway line per year, benefiting all citizens. Starting today, reporters will take you into subway construction sites to learn how each subway line comes into being.

　　Focusing on quality and ensuring progress, and to fulfill the promise of “one subway line opened per year,” many builders of Wuhan Metro gave up their holidays and quietly dedicated themselves to overtime work. Yesterday, the reporter visited the largest subway station under construction in our city—Xianggang Road Metro Station.

　　The most expensive metro station: costing 600 million yuan

　　Xianggang Road Metro Station is located underground at the intersection of Jianshe Avenue and Xianggang Road. It is an interchange station for Phase I of Line 3, Phase I of Line 6, and Phase I of Line 7, with three underground levels. The total floor area of the three lines is 53,500 square meters.

　　The stations of Lines 3 and 7 are arranged along Jianshe Avenue and are underground three-level staggered-platform stations. The Line 6 station is arranged along Xianggang Road and is an underground one-level side-platform station. The tracks of Lines 3 and 7 intersect with those of Line 6 in a “cross” shape. Due to site constraints, the main structures of the Line 3, 6, and 7 stations must all be completed at one time.

　　Meng Shiqiang, deputy project manager of the Fourth Company of China Railway 11th Bureau Group, introduced that the station project is divided into three phases. The first phase is the external station hall of Line 6, scheduled for completion by the end of December this year; the second phase is the main structure of Lines 3 and 7, scheduled for completion by the end of next year; and the third phase is the main structure of Line 6, scheduled for completion by the end of 2015.

　　“Xianggang Road Metro Station can be said to be the largest metro station currently under construction in Wuhan and also the most expensive metro station,” Meng Shiqiang said. The cost of an ordinary station is generally 150 million yuan, but the cost of Xianggang Road Station is as high as 600 million yuan.

　　Xianggang Road Station overcomes four major construction difficulties

　　Meng Shiqiang said that he has been engaged in subway construction for 10 years, and Xianggang Road Station is the metro station with the greatest construction difficulty he has encountered. The difficulties mainly lie in four aspects: complex geology, traffic congestion, narrow site, and tight schedule.

　　Meng Shiqiang introduced that underground in this section there is a 16-meter-deep silt layer, a 20-meter-deep fine sand layer, and a 20-meter-deep coarse sand layer. The metro station is buried 30 meters deep, and the lowest coarse sand layer has serious seepage. To solve this problem, they mainly adopted the methods of “building ultra-deep diaphragm walls” and “building more dewatering wells for deep-well dewatering.”

　　There are many key units and large residential communities around Xianggang Road Station. Of the eight entrances and exits, most are in “zero-distance” contact with several nearby super-high-rise buildings, “but at present, subway construction has very little impact on surrounding buildings.” Meng Shiqiang said proudly that this relies on his company’s superb construction technology.

　　To reduce the impact on surrounding buildings and prevent building settlement, they first adopted diaphragm wall construction technology. The diaphragm wall is 1.2 meters wide and 52 meters deep, wider than ordinary diaphragm walls. Xianggang Road Station therefore also has the largest diaphragm wall among Wuhan metro stations. The second technical measure is to strictly control the pumping time and volume of well-point dewatering, and the third is monitoring and measurement to ensure the authenticity of data.

　　Project builders do not go home during National Day

　　The Xianggang Road subway construction site currently has more than 240 construction workers and more than 60 management personnel. Since entering the site in September last year, the site has operated without a break all year round.

　　24-year-old He Qiu graduated from Xi’an University of Science and Technology with a major in civil engineering. His hometown is Fuping, Shaanxi, and he is a technical supervisor. He is the only child in his family and had not returned to his hometown during the 10 months since entering the site. Because she missed her grandson too much, some time ago his 69-year-old grandmother came to Wuhan with He Qiu’s parents from Fuping to visit him. During the National Day period, almost all of He Qiu’s friends of the same age went traveling, but he stayed at the front line of construction.

　Wuhan Rail Transit Line 3 Phase I:

　　Phase I of Line 3 is Wuhan’s first subway line crossing the Han River, running from Zhuanyang Avenue in Zhuankou to Sanjintan in Hankou. The main line is 27.9 kilometers long, with 24 stations, all underground. It starts in the Zhuankou Economic Development Zone, runs along Dongfeng Avenue and Longyang Avenue, crosses the Han River, enters Wangjiadun CBD, and passes through Jianshe Avenue and the northern extension of Jianshe Avenue to the terminus at Sanjintan. The main structure of Shiminzhijia Station has been completed, and 21 stations including Houhu Avenue Station have started construction. It is scheduled to open in 2015.

　Wuhan Rail Transit Line 6 Phase I:

　　Phase I of Line 6 is our city’s second subway line crossing the Han River, running from Zhuankou Sports Center to Jinyinhu in Hankou. It is 35.95 kilometers long and has 27 stations. The line starts at Sports Center South Station, mainly runs along Checheng North Road, passes under South Taizi Lake, then runs along the planned South Taizi Lake North Road and Changjiang Road, passes under the Third Ring Road elevated section and Sixin South Road elevated section to the Expo Center and Ocean Park, runs along Yingwu Avenue to Qintai, passes under the Han River, and runs along Chongren Road, Zhongshan Avenue, Dazhi Road, Xianggang Road, the planned Shiqiao Road, Huayuan Middle Road, and Jinshan Avenue to the terminus at Huanhu West Road Station. It is scheduled to open at the end of 2106.

　　Wuhan Rail Transit Line 7 Phase I:

　　Phase I of Line 7 is China’s first rail transit project combining road and rail to cross the Yangtze River. The project starts at Dongfang Macheng Road on the south side of the intersection of Jinnan First Road and Jinshan Avenue, runs along Jinnan First Road, Zhanggongzi Dike, Huaihe Road, Jianshe Avenue, Aomen Road, Sanyang Road, Qinyuan Road, Youyi Avenue, Zhongshan Road, Heng’an Road, and Lizhi Road, and ends at Yezhihu Station. The project is 30.9 kilometers long and has 19 stations, including 10 interchange stations. The project will start construction within this year and is expected to open for trial operation at the end of 2017.