Enter into a conversation with someone from Banqiao about the Nanjing Metro, drop in the words, “Line 8”, and be more-than-likely met with a response comprising a scowl and a bunch of expletives. Forgive them; they’ve been waiting since 2006.
It’s because Line 8 has up and left the people of Banqiao, shattering many dreams in the process, not least those held dear by people who had brought a property in the area out of expectation for a metro line (to push up said property’s asking price).
Banqiao Sub District lies in the southern part of Yuhuatai District of Nanjing City, with Jiangning District to its east and the banks of the Yangtze River to its west. Banqiao occupies an area of 51.49 square kilometres.
Recently, a draft of the land and space planning for Qixia District in Nanjing was officially announced. Therein, those two dreaded words; Line 8, together with multiple other metro line projects, including Line 8, Line 12, Line 14, the east extension to Line 2, and Line S5.
It was the final nail in the coffin for the desires of people in Banqiao, another miserable confirmation that all their waiting, investment and planning for the future had been in vain.
Backing up, it was in fact as early as 2006 that city authorities put Nanjing Metro Line 8 on the agenda, making it highly anticipated by Banqiao.
Today however, local residents recall hearing the rumour while they were preparing to graduate. Now they have children. A few are even grandparents. But still no metro line.
The light at the end of the tunnel, however, so to speak, is Line S2, that shall connect Nanjing with Ma’anshan in neighbouring Anhui Province.
We now know for certain that there shall be three stations in the Banqiao area, namely Banqiao South, Banqiao and Banqiao North.
In addition, on 9 January of this year was released the “Second Announcement of the Environmental Impact Assessment for the Third Phase of Nanjing Urban Rail Transit Construction Plan (2023-2028)”. Therein, confirmation that Line 9 Phase II and Line 16 will radiate to Banqiao.
But it’s not over yet. Back with Line S2, engineering challenges suggest a planned opening date of 2025 could well even now be slipped. The poor folks of Banqiao never realised they would wait 20 years for a metro line.
