Connected: subways bring cities to life By Edwin Heathcote Published: April 6 2010 11:59 | Last updated: April 6 2010 11:59 A train station at Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport, featuring architectural design by Norman Foster. The Beijing Subway is the oldest and busiest in mainland China, serving more than five million commuters daily, and current plans call for an expansion from nine lines to 19 by 2015. Connected: subways bring cities to life * < * 1 * 2 * 3 * 4 * 5 * 6 * 7 * 8 * 9 * 10 * > A train station at Terminal 3 of Beijing Capital International Airport, featuring architectural design by Norman Foster. The Beijing Subway is the oldest and busiest in mainland China, serving more than five million commuters daily, and current plans call for an expansion from nine lines to 19 by 2015. A chandelier sparkles above a platform at the Moscow Metro’s Komsomoloskaya station. The world’s second most heavily used subway system, after Tokyo, it carries more than 8m passengers daily and is known for the architectural extravagance of some of its stations. It has been the target of terror attacks in 1977, 2004 and 2010. A chandelier sparkles above a platform at the Moscow Metro’s Komsomoloskaya station. The world’s second most heavily used subway system, after Tokyo, it carries more than 8m passengers daily and is known for the architectural extravagance of some of its stations. It has been the target of terror attacks in 1977, 2004 and 2010. Designed by Norman Foster, the Bilbao Metro features elegant glass hoods at its station entrances. The first underground station in the Basque city opened in November 1988. Designed by Norman Foster, the Bilbao Metro features elegant glass hoods at its station entrances. The first underground station in the Basque city opened in November 1988. A Dubai Metro train runs along a track during a trial session in 2009, the year it was launched. The emirate’s driverless metro network currently operates one line and will expand to four over the next five years. A Dubai Metro train runs along a track during a trial session in 2009, the year it was launched. The emirate’s driverless metro network currently operates one line and will expand to four over the next five years. Large blue, red and yellow lamps light up the U-Bahn station at Westfriedhof in Munich. The network’s trains run at speeds of up to 80km/h – the fastest of their kind in Germany. Large blue, red and yellow lamps light up the U-Bahn station at Westfriedhof in Munich. The network’s trains run at speeds of up to 80km/h – the fastest of their kind in Germany. Mural paintings brighten a station of the Stockholm Metro, or Tunnelbana. The first part of the network was opened in 1950, and 100 stations are currently in use. Mural paintings brighten a station of the Stockholm Metro, or Tunnelbana. The first part of the network was opened in 1950, and 100 stations are currently in use. Russell Square is a station on the Piccadilly line of the London Underground, the oldest underground railway network in the world – it first opened in 1863 – as well as the longest by route length, running on roughly 400km of track. Russell Square is a station on the Piccadilly line of the London Underground, the oldest underground railway network in the world – it first opened in 1863 – as well as the longest by route length, running on roughly 400km of track. The entrance to the Saint-Michel station of the Paris Métro, designed by architect Hector Guimard, a prominent representative of the French Art Nouveau movement, at the start of the 20th century. The Métro has 214km of track serving 300 stations, and trains on some of its lines have rubber tyres. The entrance to the Saint-Michel station of the Paris Métro, designed by architect Hector Guimard, a prominent representative of the French Art Nouveau movement, at the start of the 20th century. The Métro has 214km of track serving 300 stations, and trains on some of its lines have rubber tyres. The Tokyo subway is the busiest in the world, transporting almost nine million people daily, and employs white-gloved staff, known as oshiya, to squeeze commuters on to crowded trains during peak hours. The Tokyo subway is the busiest in the world, transporting almost nine million people daily, and employs white-gloved staff, known as oshiya, to squeeze commuters on to crowded trains during peak hours. A train travels through 125th Street station of the New York City Subway. Opened in October 1902, the subway now carries more passengers than all other mass-transit rail systems in the US combined. A train travels through 125th Street station of the New York City Subway. Opened in October 1902, the subway now carries more passengers than all other mass-transit rail systems in the US combined. The metro is a parallel city, a subterranean network of tubes and cables that mirrors the complexity of the city above, a system of veins and arteries hidden beneath the skin of the street and pumping urban lifeblood. London’s Underground was the first. The Metropolitan Railway (lending its name to all that followed) opened in 1863, its locomotives spewing smoke into sooty, brick-built tunnels. The Underground has become a part of London’s mythology, a symbol of its resilience. It served as a shelter from the Blitz but also as a catacomb for victims of the 7/7 bombings and, in that dual role as womb and tomb, it finds its unique blend of familiarity, ennui and claustrophobia. Tokyo’s subway, fiercely efficient and exemplified by its white-gloved people-squeezers, had its sarin gas attacks. New York’s massive and once decrepit and dangerous system became a cipher for crime and the bankrupt megacity; its rebirth a symbol of the city taking back control. Yet we move on; underground, the subway can subsume and sublimate our fears – we continue as if nothing had ever happened. At its best, a metro offers a city a subterranean subconscious, a mirror image of itself. Hector Guimard’s sinuously organic Art Nouveau ironwork for the Paris Métro announces the presence of a station – art runs through the city’s veins – and the artist’s sign has become the symbol of the city itself, as have London’s roundels. Moscow’s astonishing Stalinist stations became palaces of the proletariat, fairy-tale commuters’ balls lit by sparkling chandeliers. Stockholm’s Tunnelbana appears as a network of caves, hewn from the rock and painted with endlessly engaging verve. Munich’s vividly coloured U-Bahn is an underground art gallery and, while Bilbao’s rebirth is usually credited to the Guggenheim Museum, it was the elegant glass hoods of the Basque city’s Metro system, designed by Norman Foster, that truly animated the city. From Shanghai to Dubai, cities are only allowed to become real once they have dug deep enough within themselves to make themselves truly metropolitan.
