By Mr Desmond LAU 
The CV Division organised a technical visit to Guangzhou Metro (GM) as
the Mainland Contact Series Five on 17 September 2005. The visit was well attended by 43 members, including Ir Victor Lo and Ir George Cheng from the CV Division.

After arriving at the Operation Division, we were given an informative introduction on the Metro. The first and second lines of the GM have been in operation since 1999 and 2003 respectively. The total length of both lines was 36.6 km with an average of 470,000 commuters per day. The third and fourth lines spanning 36.3 km and 14.11 km in length respectively, are still under construction. The goal was to construct a total of nine lines and a total length of 255 km railway lines. The routing was selected to relieve traffic congestion in the urban areas and to cater for future town planning. 

We were then guided to visit the train depot of the second line, where participants could have a closer look at the trains in use. The participants also went to the entrance of a tunnel at the construction site of the third line. The last stop during the day was the construction site of the fourth line. Although the tunneling works had not yet commenced, the Project Manager explained how the tunnel equipment is to be used. The excavation and lateral works were underway for providing a basement platform for the future operation of the tunnel-boring machine.

For more information, please visit the GM website at http://www.gzmtr.com. On behalf of the CV Division, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to the design and construction parties of the GM for their informative introduction throughout the visit.