Rail track and station built into an apartment block in China

Architects, planners and railway engineers in Chinese have come up with the unthinkable after they designed and build a rail route through a residential building to make space for an essential train route, first of its kind in the world.

The engineers came up with an ingenious solution when asked to build a new line in heavily built-up area of Chonquing — by building the unusual train tracks directly through the centre of a 19-storey block of flats, a creative solution for a lack of space in the city packed with skyscrapers.

The monorail line which was opened in 2004 cuts a hole through the 8th floor of the building in the central Chinese city of Chongqing, which is home to around 8.5 million people.

Surprisingly, noise is not a problem because noise reduction equipment installed at the station means the train only makes noise roughly comparable to a conversation in a restaurant or a standard dishwasher as the train only generates 60 decibels as it moves through the building.

The train passes into the opening eight storeys up. ImagesSource:Getty Images

Chongqing is known as the ‘Mountain City’ because of its soaring skyline of skyscrapers and overcrowding is a major problem.

It is even convenient for residents in the building, that was built at the same time as the railway who can board the train at Liziba Station, located on the sixth to eighth floor of the building.
 

 

 

With more than 49 million residents crammed into the urban sprawl, the city’s planners have had to think up some creative infrastructure solutions for the limited space they have.

“Our city is very heavily built-up and that can make finding room for roads and railway lines a real challenge, said city transport spokesman Yuan Cheng to the the Daily Star.

“Sometimes there just isn’t room on the ground so we have to think about going under, or over, or — in this case — straight through.

“In a city as fast-paced as this it was clear people wanted to get around quickly.

“Extending the railway line this way was a gamble, but it was one that paid off,” he

Would you live in the apartment underneath or above the rail?
Source: The Sun