The Beijing Subway (Part 1)

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Sign seen in the Hong Kong MTR Besides that Beijing International Airport’s new Terminal 3 looking totally like a newer, fresher version of HK’s Chek Lap Kok International Airport (compare Hong Kong‘s to Beijing‘s), both the HK MTR (see photo above) and Beijing’s new subway (see photo below) Line 5 look strikingly similar in terms … Continue reading “The Beijing Subway (Part 1)”

Entry 入口 - Hong Kong MTR
Sign seen in the Hong Kong MTR

Besides that Beijing International Airport’s new Terminal 3 looking totally like a newer, fresher version of HK’s Chek Lap Kok International Airport (compare Hong Kong‘s to Beijing‘s), both the HK MTR (see photo above) and Beijing’s new subway (see photo below) Line 5 look strikingly similar in terms of design.

Beijing Subway Line 5
Beijing Subway

The doors and general design looks eerily similar to Hong Kong’s. A noticeable change is the font, whic was replaced with something like Helvetica, that totally does not match, or is a poor design choice.

Perhaps the reason for this was that HK-based MTR Corporation (the private corporation running the rapid train system in Hong Kong) was commissioned by the Beijing government to build its new subway lines, including the north-south Line 5.

Shenzhen’s rapid transit, also MTR-made, has all the feel of the MTR, but with an even worse font set, using just the alphabetical roman characters of the Chinese font… But after Hong Kong and Taipei, any other metro in the world would seem to lack something.

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