Travel in China
The station where the monorail passes straight through the 6th-8th floors of a residential tower - Chongqing's geometry-defying icon.
Liziba Station on Chongqing Metro Line 2 is perhaps the world's most extraordinary piece of urban transit infrastructure: a monorail station built directly through the middle of a 19-storey residential building. The train enters on the 6th floor, passes through the 7th and 8th, and exits on the other side - all without disturbing the residents above and below.
The engineering solution, completed in 2004, required the building and the track to be designed as a single unit. The station's platforms are separated from the apartments by only a few metres of specially engineered noise-dampening structure - residents report barely noticing the trains passing a few metres from their walls.
Liziba has become Chongqing's most-visited engineering landmark. From the viewing platform below the building you can watch the train pass every few minutes, and the sound of the monorail sliding through the tower is accompanied by camera shutters from the gathered crowd. It is the clearest single expression of Chongqing's nickname: the 8D Magic City.
Highlights
The Train-Through-Building
The monorail passing through floors 6-8 of a residential tower - the defining Chongqing image.
The Viewing Platform
A purpose-built platform below the building for photographing the train's passage.
The Sound Design
The near-silent passage - engineered with rubber dampers and noise-absorbing materials.
The Residents Above
People living on floors 9-19 with a train through their building - ask them about it.
Line 2 Mountain Views
The monorail ride from Liziba offers spectacular mountain-city views.
The '8D Magic City' Effect
The disorienting experience of a city built in three dimensions rather than two.
Photo Gallery
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