Society

Underground network that's expanding the city's subway

By Ma Chao (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-06-03 07:50

They endure poor air quality, high noise levels, isolation and extreme temperatures as they work to complete yet another kilometer of Beijing's ever-expanding subway network.

Though the subway has nine lines, 147 stations and 228 kilometers of track, the second-longest in China, it still can't cope with the public's demand.

Trains are overcrowded at almost any time of the day, and many areas are not served by the system.

To overcome this, an ambitious program began some years ago to add lines to the system. This was given a boost last year by a prodigious stimulus package, announced to fight the global financial crisis.

Almost 280 km of track are now being built, surpassing the tracks in operation. By 2015, the network is expected to reach 561 km, exceeding London's or New York's systems and by 2020, there will be 1,050 km of track.

Wang Junping is one of the many unsung workers of the project, decorating Yihezhuang station, in Huangcun town, Daxing district.

Wang, from Qianjiang, Hubei province, came to Beijing more than 10 years ago to work as a decorator. He has worked on Sanyuanqiao station on Line 10 and Majiapu station on Line 4. Yihezhuang is his third.

As the deadline for the completion of the station is the end of next month, Wang and his colleagues have been working more than 10 hours daily.

Like most construction workers, Wang can only return to his hometown once a year. His wife, a cleaner, works for the subway, too.

His daughter and son were brought up by grandparents and the only time the family gets together is Chinese New Year.

Yihezhuang is on the Daxing line, one of the 11 subway lines being built. This is part of the city's plan to encourage commuters to forgo private cars.

During tunnel boring on the Daxing line, there were more than 100 workers underground at the site. Now, about 70 are decorating the station.

Compared with Wang, Shi Pin is luckier because his wife and daughter live in Beijing, albeit two hours away. But he can be with them only one night every week.

Thanks to his job as safety manager, he is on call at all times and therefore sleeps onsite. A night with his family is a weekly treat.

His wife and daughter complain he doesn't spend enough time with them and he can feel a gulf developing between him and his daughter.

"I feel guilty because I failed to take my responsibility as a husband and father," Shi said. "I cannot even take her on an outing during the holidays".

He is also sad that between 2003 and 2008, he was unable to return to his hometown in Anqing, Anhui province, to see his parents.

Working underground is different from surface work. When building the tunnel, engineers and workers in tunnel-boring machines work 12 hours a day, enduring loud noises, high humidity and bad air quality.

"It's isolated from the outside world," said Wang Shunjiang, an engineer who specializes in tunnel boring. "There is no mobile phone connection and the only way to contact the people on the surface is by an internal phone",

Underground workers have to adapt to huge differences in temperatures, exceeding 30 C when boring, even if it's below 20 outside.

"After a few hours in the machine, my clothes will be completely wet," said Shi.

In winter, the gap between the surface and underground can be as high as 30-40 degrees.

But in summer, decorators may sometimes work in 5-7 degrees underground while the surface temperature might be 30. "If you walk in and out a few times, you can catch a cold easily," said Wang Junping.

At the Yihezhuang station camp on the surface, there are two basketball hoops, table tennis tables and areas to play cards. For the workers, with little time to return home, the site has to be where they can relax a bit.

In 10 years as a construction engineer, Shi has barely had any vacation. For him, life is one project after another.

"It is the characteristic of the profession. Since I chose it, I have to get over the difficulties. What else can I do?" he said.