page_title: Beijing Subway
section_title: 1965–1981: the slow beginning
hierarchical_section_title: Beijing Subway / History / 1965–1981: the slow beginning
caption_attribution_description: 中文（简体）‎: 北京地铁2号线前门站B出入口。
context_page_description: The Beijing Subway is the rapid transit system of Beijing Municipality that consists of 23 lines including 19 rapid transit lines, two airport rail links, one maglev line and one light rail line, and 405 stations. The rail network extends 699.3 km across 12 urban and suburban districts of Beijing and into one district of Langfang in neighboring Hebei province. By route length in operation, the Beijing Subway is the world's longest metro system. With 3.8484 billion trips delivered in 2018, an average of 10.544 million trips per day, the Beijing Subway is the world's busiest metro system. Single-day ridership set a record of 13.7538 million on July 12, 2019.
  The Beijing Subway opened in 1969 and is the oldest metro system in mainland China. Before the system underwent rapid expansion since 2002, the subway had only two lines. The existing network still cannot adequately meet the city's mass transit needs. Beijing Subway's extensive expansion plans call for 998.5 km of lines serving a projected 18.5 million trips every day by 2021. The most recent expansion came into effect on December 28, 2019, with the extensions of Line 7 and Batong line.
context_section_description: Construction began on July 1, 1965, at a ceremony attended by national leaders including Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping, and mayor Peng Zhen.  The most controversial outcome of the initial subway line was the demolition of the Beijing's historic inner city wall to make way for the subway.  Construction plans for the subway from Fuxingmen to the Beijing Railway Station called for the removal of the wall, as well as the gates and archery towers at Hepingmen, Qianmen, and Chongwenmen.  Leading architect Liang Sicheng argued for protecting the wall as a landmark of the ancient capital.  Chairman Mao favored demolishing the wall over demolishing homes.  In the end, Premier Zhou Enlai managed to preserve several walls and gates, such as the Qianmen gate and its arrow tower by slightly altering the course of the subway.
  The initial line was completed and began trial operations in time to mark the 20th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic on October 1, 1969. It ran 21 km (13 mi) from the army barracks at Fushouling to the Beijing Railway Station and had 16 stations.  This line forms parts of present-day Lines 1 and 2.  It was the first subway to be built in China, and predates the metros of Hong Kong, Seoul, Singapore, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., but technical problems would plague the project for the next decade.
  Initially, the subway hosted guest visits.  On November 11, 1969, an electrical fire killed three people, injured over 100 and destroyed two cars.  Premier Zhou Enlai placed the subway under the control of the People's Liberation Army in early 1970, but reliability problems persisted.
  On January 15, 1971, the initial line began operation on a trial basis between the Beijing railway station and Gongzhufen. Single ride fare was set at ¥0.10 and only members of the public with credential letters from their work units could purchase tickets.  The line was 10.7 km (6.6 mi) in length, had 10 stations and operated more than 60 train trips per day with a minimum wait time of 14 minutes.  On August 15, the initial line was extended to Yuquanlu and had 13 stations over 15.6 km (9.7 mi).  On November 7, the line was extended again, to Gucheng Lu, and had 16 stations over 22.87 km (14.21 mi).  The number of trains per day rose to 100.  Overall, the line delivered 8.28 million rides in 1971, averaging 28,000 riders per day.
  From 1971 to 1975, the subway was shut down for 398 days for political reasons. On December 27, 1972, the riders no longer needed to present credential letters to purchase tickets.  In 1972, the subway delivered 15 million rides and averaged 41,000 riders per day.  In 1973, the line was extended to Pingguoyuan and reached 23.6 km (14.7 mi) in length with 17 stations and 132 train trips per day.    The line delivered 11 million rides in 1973, averaging 54,000 riders per day.
  Despite its return to civilian control in 1976, the subway remained prone to closures due to fires, flooding, and accidents.  Annual ridership grew from 22.2 million in 1976 and 28.4 million in 1977 to 30.9 million in 1978, and 55.2 million in 1980.
caption: Many areas of Beijing's city walls were torn down during the construction of the subway.  The route of the initial subway line was slightly altered to save the Qianmen gate.
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