A boy enjoys subway Line 10, which opened on Saturday. Chen Jian

Commuter Liu Yanhong and her husband halved their trip across Beijing on Saturday - by going through one of the busiest parts of the capital.

The couple achieved the feat by using the subway's new Line 10.

The line, which runs through Beijing's Central Business District (CBD) or Guomao in the southeast and its hi-tech enclave of Zhongguanchun in the northwest, opened on Saturday together with two other new lines, the Olympic Line and the Airport Express. Beijing's subway network has been stretched up to 200 km with the three new lines.

Liu had initially planned for an hour-long journey from the southeast area of Jinsong, by using subway Lines 1 and 2 to get to Longze in the northeast.

But she and her husband decided to take Line 10 to their destination once they learned that the new Guomao Station was ready and completed their journey in 35 minutes.

"We had originally planned to travel more than an hour, but I realized the new line would halve that," Liu said, adding that only one transfer was needed for their journey instead of two.

The lines at Guomao Station, which lies at the center of the CBD, were 50-m long when the couple got there at about 1.30pm.

"Early birds started lining up as soon as 1pm," a station employee told China Daily.

"Most of them said they came just to try out the new line."

Liu said she was most impressed by the brand new carriages of the line.

"The new trains seem to be running much faster as well," she said.

Once they couple arrived in Shaoyaoju Station, the intersection where they could change for Longze, the duo decided to travel to the second intersection of Zhichunlu Station for a better chance to get a seat.

"We thought the seats would be more comfortable than the ones in other lines," Liu said.

Other than greater comfort, a shorter interval between trains was considered as another attraction of the new Line 10 that helped shorten trips.

The intervals were as short as three minutes, a station employee claimed.

"Intervals between trains may become longer based on commuter traffic," he said.

"Intervals on three, five and even six minutes, all are possible," he said.

The new Line 10 is also expected to improve traveling time for commuters headed for the city's busy areas such as Zhongguancun.

Also known as "China's Silicon Valley", Zhongguancun is also infamous for being one of the most congested urban blocks in the city.

"I know the good days are here, with the new Line 10," PC-vendor Zhang Xingxing, 22, said.

(China Daily July 21, 2008)