After nearly five years of work, line 5 of the Beijing Metro finally opened it doors at the beginning of October.

"Well, it's not bad, but not as good as the one in Shenzhen". Wang is blasé.  For this twenty-something year old Beijinger, after travelling to work in the extreme East of the city, line 5 won't change his life much.

After nearly five years of construction, this 27.6km long line running from Tiantongyuan in the North, down to Songjiazhuang in the South opened at 2pm on Sunday 7^th October.  In view of the thousands of people who streamed though the new corridors the next day, it almost seemed like the Pink Line, and her 23 stations were just sitting there waiting.

In Dongdan, one of the four new transfer stations, located near the commercial centre of Wangfujing, there wasn't any obvious change.  There was barely a piece of paper indicating the way to the new line 5.

The ticket collectors, as always, were in position, with their blue-green suit, complete with bronzed buttons and black cloth shoes.

t's only after having taken a long escalator, and walked along a freshly painted yellow corridor that you arrive in the main hall, which to be honest, is pretty amazing.  And now for the first obstacle: the enormously long escalator. 

On your long journey down this escalator, you'll have ample time to look at the adverts, Chinese slogans ("New Beijing, New Subway, New Life") and the raised grey markings on the ground to help blind people navigate.  

Costing 12 billion RMB (US$160 million), you could say that the Beijing government has gone all out - enormous adverts in Chinese and English, elevators (reserved for use by disabled people), subway workers with new uniforms, walls decorated with Chinese calligraphy, information terminals and screens with information about train service, security regulations, and signs about good public manners.  One problem - most of it is only in Chinese.

Heavy silence

The platforms are all equipped with a system of double doors, thus ensuring the safety of the passengers.  There are also numerous flat screen TVs showing information about Olympic competitions, and information about the next trains to arrive at the station.

The noise levels inside the train are much lower than you'd normally get on a train.  And unlike the other metros in Beijing, line 5 trains feature just one, long compartment, with each carriage linked, and directly accessible to the next.  Also unlike the other metro lines, there is no recorded voice inside the train announcing the next stop.  "What are blind people going to do?", asked someone in a loud voice.

However, the remark does not illicit a reaction.  We see no more reactions to the mistranslations out of Chinese into English.  It doesn't help that the overhead bars are labeled as ‘armrests'.  Most people are preoccupied with their mobile phones - the entire route, just as promised, has perfect mobile phone signal.

At Yong He Gong station, there are crowds of Chinese waiting in front of the white marble and red wood columns which decorate the place, which reminds you of traditional Chinese architecture.