Line 6 (Guangzhou Metro) Explained

Other Name:M7 (7 lines plan name)
M6 (2000 plan name)
Luogang line (Chinese: 萝岗线)
Type:Rapid transit
System:Guangzhou Metro
Status:Operational
Locale:Huangpu, Tianhe, Yuexiu, Liwan, and Baiyun districts
Guangzhou, Guangdong
Stations:32
Routes:2
Daily Ridership:850,000 (2018 Avg.)[1]
1.153 million (2019 Peak)[2]
Owner:City of Guangzhou
Operator:Guangzhou Metro Corporation
Character:Underground/Elevated (Three stations)
Stock:CRRC Qingdao Sifang/Kawasaki Heavy Industries Metro cars[3]
Linelength:41.7km (25.9miles)
Electrification:Third rails, 1,500 V DC
Map State:collapsed
S:广州地铁6号线
T:廣州地鐵6號線
P:Guǎngzhōu Dìtiě Liù Hào Xiàn
Y:Gwóngjāu Deihtit Yih Houh Sin-->
Gd:guong2 zeo1 déi6 tid3 yi6 hou6 xin3-->
J:gwong2zau1 dei6tit3 luk6 hou6 sin3
Order:st

Line 6 of the Guangzhou Metro runs from Liwan District to Huangpu District. It starts at and ends at, interchanging with Line 5 at and ; Line 1 at and ; Line 8 at ; Line 2 at ; Line 21 at ; Line 3 at and . The total length is 41.9km (26miles) with 32 stations. Line 6 serves densely populated areas including residential communities in Jinshazhou, the pedestrian street in Beijing Lu and wholesale markets in Shahe. Nevertheless, Line 6, which runs four-car trains, has long had a questionable train capacity. The phase one section between and began to provide service from 28 December 2013 with the exception of and stations.[4] opened over a year later on 28 January 2015. The second phase of Line 6 from to has been in operation since 28 December 2016. Like Lines 4 and 5, Line 6 is equipped with linear induction motor technology. Line 6's color is

maroon.

Opening timeline

SegmentCommencementLengthStation(s)Name
Xunfenggang — Changban28 December 201324.52NaN220Phase 1
Yide Lu28 January 2015Infill station1
Changban — Xiangxue28 December 201617.22NaN28Phase 2
Botanical Garden, Kemulang28 June 2017Infill stations2

Station listing

Service
routes
Station
No.
Station nameConnectionsDistance
Location
0.000.00Baiyun
0.870.87
0.811.68
2.211.89Liwan
1.092.98
1.864.84
1.196.03
0.856.88
0.957.83Yuexiu
0.958.78
0.569.34
0.8310.17
1.1511.32

1.3612.68
1.1013.78
1.0714.85
0.9715.82Tianhe
1.0316.85
1.1017.95
0.6418.59
(until 2025)
(from 2025)
2.2120.80
0.9921.79
1.8923.68
1.7425.42
1.9427.36
1.5228.88
2.4231.30Huangpu
2.2033.50
1.3034.80
0.9335.73

Civic Square:
1.5337.26
2.0939.35

Overcrowding

Originally believed to have limited attraction to commuters, Line 6 was intended as an auxiliary light metro line with a projected daily ridership of two years after opening and in nine years, These projections assumed the opening year of Line 6 was still 2010 and Guangzhou was less populated. Such projections were in line with ridership of the, at the time, underutilized Lines 1 and 2 prior to 2004. Additionally, the national policy for subway construction at the time was to design for lines to operate shorter but more frequent trains, a policy dubbed "small groups, high density". The Type A designs used in Lines 1 and 2 were abandoned in favor of smaller Type B and L trains.[5] After the newly opened Line 3 with its Type B trains quickly experienced severe overcrowding by 2006, there was large public attention paid to under construction lines following this low design capacity paradigm, particularly on Lines 5 and 6. However, the construction of Line 6 was well underway using the original light metro plan of four car Type L trains, which are even lower in capacity than the trains used in Line 3. A change to longer trains on Line 6 had become unfeasible as it would require modification to stations structures whose construction had been completed.[6] An internal report of Guangzhou Metro also released in 2009 reckoned that using the same six car B-type rolling stock as Line 3 would increase the capacity of Line 6 by 50%. Land expropriation and residence relocation would pose even greater challenges to station expansion as evidenced by severe delays in the construction of the stations of Yide Lu and Shahe.[7] In 2014, one year after opening, daily ridership on Line 6 has grown to 600,000 and continues to increase steadily,[8] peaking at 858,000 passengers on 16 September 2016, a mere two years later.[9] With the opening of Phase II extending the line from Changban to Xiangxue in late 2016 ridership continues to increase, averaging 850,000 passengers per day as of April 2018.[10] Since 2017, daily ridership of Line 6 consistently peaks over 1 million passengers per day during high load periods such as holidays.[11] [12]

Guangzhou Metro has responded to the crowding by decreasing headways and buying supplementary rolling stock to further increase frequencies.[13] All Line 6 trains had several rows of seats removed to allow for more standees and increase overall capacity.[14] Phase II stations east of Botanical Garden Station were redesigned before stating construction to allow for at least 6 car Type L trains to be used.[15] There are various plans to separate this section of Line 6 to be an independent line, allowing for the use of 6 car trains and diverting passenger traffic away from the central Phase I section Line 6.[16]

Future expansion

The Third Phase of Line 6 was originally planned to further extend the line east deeper into Zengcheng, terminating at Guanhu station and connect with the Zengcheng Development Zone Station on the Xinbaiguang intercity railway. The extension would be 19km (12miles) long with provisions to be spun off into an independent line (Line 23). The spun off line was planned to run between Jingxi Nanfang Hospital and Guanhu stations with the central section reusing the Phase II section of Line 6 between and Stations making use of a provision for interchanging with the rest of Line 6 at Botanical Garden Station.[17] However in 2018, this plan was abandoned and Phase III east extension of Line 6 was folded permanently as the eastern section of Line 23 with the western section of Line 23 will no longer using any Phase II trackage of Line 6, instead heading southwest to Chishajiao Station in Haizhu District. Line 6 Phase III will instead be a short 4km (02miles) two station extension to Liucun.[18]

In 2019, another proposal to spin off the eastern section of Line 6 east of Botanical Garden Station. This time the new line will take over the eastern section beyond Botanical Garden Station and head south to Canton Tower station. This new line is tentatively named Line 20.[19]

Rolling stock

As of September 2021, Line 6 is served by 89 sets of four car linear motor trains.[20]

TypeTime of manufacturingSeriesSetsAssemblyNotes
Type L2011–2012L340Mc+Mp+Mp+McFirst batch by CRRC Qingdao Sifang[21]
Type L2015–2016L311Mc+Mp+Mp+McSecond batch by CRRC Qingdao Sifang
Type L2019–2021L638Mcp+M+M+McpManufactured by CRRC Guangdong[22] [23]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: http://news.dayoo.com/guangzhou/201804/28/139995_52161588.htm . zh:广州地铁六号线运力再升级!间隔首次压缩到小于3分钟.
  2. Web site: http://sn.people.com.cn/n2/2020/0102/c378296-33682040.html . zh:广州地铁刷新单日客流新高 达逾1156万人次. 人民网 . 2020-01-02 . 2020-01-02.
  3. Web site: Guangzhou Metro Line 6 CSR Sifang EMU. 10 December 2015.
  4. Web site: Zheng. Xiaojia. Guangzhou Metro Line 6 opens on Dec. 28. Life of Guangzhou. Guangzhou Interactive Information Network. 10 January 2014.
  5. Web site: 六号线日均客流量不到此前预测的6成_南方都市报数字报. 2021-03-13. epaper.oeeee.com.
  6. Web site: 站台设计只能容下四节车厢_新闻中心_新浪网. 2021-03-13. news.sina.com.cn.
  7. News: http://gzdaily.dayoo.com/html/2013-12/25/content_2493149.htm. zh:八年苦战 六号线终破茧. 25 December 2013. Guangzhou Daily. zh-hans. Line 6 to open after 8 difficult years of construction. 2013-12-26. https://web.archive.org/web/20131225234036/http://gzdaily.dayoo.com/html/2013-12/25/content_2493149.htm. 25 December 2013. dead.
  8. Web site: zh:广州地铁 全程为你--公司新闻. http://www.gzmtr.com/ygwm/xwzx/gsxw/201412/t20141229_38031.html. 2016-09-17. www.gzmtr.com.
  9. Web site: zh:中秋假期广州地铁日均客流730万人次- 新华网. http://www.gd.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2016-09/16/c_1119569966.htm. https://web.archive.org/web/20160917133308/http://www.gd.xinhuanet.com/newscenter/2016-09/16/c_1119569966.htm. dead. September 17, 2016. 2016-09-17. www.gd.xinhuanet.com.
  10. Web site: Li. Jian (李健). zh:广州地铁六号线运力再升级!间隔首次压缩到小于3分钟_广州日报大洋网. http://news.dayoo.com/guangzhou/201804/28/139995_52161588.htm. 2018-05-04. news.dayoo.com. zh-CN.
  11. Web site: 铁路、民航、广州地铁客流均创新高_旅客. 2021-05-02. www.sohu.com. en.
  12. Web site: 2018-01-02 . zh:1002.57万人次!广州地铁客流首次突破千万 . http://news.ycwb.com/2018-01/02/content_25842113.htm . 2018-01-12 . 金羊网.
  13. Web site: 广州地铁六号线年内三次提升运能 最短间隔2分25秒_南方网. 2021-03-13. kb.southcn.com.
  14. Web site: 从头站到尾,6号线能不能重装座位?广州地铁回应了. 2021-03-13. mvp.leju.com.
  15. Web site: 网易. 2019-05-03. 广州地铁6号线的"痛点"在哪里?. 2021-03-13. www.163.com.
  16. Web site: 广州地铁6号线长湴至香雪段将成为地铁20号线的组成部分?_腾讯网. 2021-03-13. xw.qq.com.
  17. Web site: 我不相信!竟有人说,地铁23号线规划发生变化,只延长到香雪公园?. 2020-08-22. www.sohu.com. en.
  18. Web site: 2020-02-20. 地铁23号线最新站点曝光!6号线是否再东延香雪公园?-本地新闻-广州乐居网. 2020-08-22. https://web.archive.org/web/20200220191150/https://gz.leju.com/news/2018-07-15/07566424048859856815046.shtml. 2020-02-20.
  19. Web site: 地铁6号线再次拆解!二期变成20号线,萝岗直达广州塔!_东段. 2020-08-22. www.sohu.com. en.
  20. Web site: 地铁6号线将配置89列车,数量创广州地铁之最_段后. 2021-09-21. www.sohu.com. en.
  21. Web site: 广州地铁 全程为你--公司新闻. 2020-08-22. www.gzmtr.com.
  22. Web site: 我哋嘅. 这两条线路上新车啦!. 2020-08-22. WeChat.
  23. Web site: 中车广东公司. 叮咚!"双十二"提前发货了!. 2020-08-22. WeChat Official Accounts Platform.