In China, a train passes right through a residential building
In Chongqing, one of the largest cities in China by population, one of the monorail lines runs directly through a residential building. Its residents can take the train at the Lisiba station, which occupies two floors of the house — the seventh and eighth.
Source: Daily Mail
The monorail line is built so that it passes through an opening in a residential 19-storey building. The nearest walls of the apartments touch the tunnel, and the distance to the side and lower windows does not reach even a meter.
Although the locals live almost at a busy station, the noise from the trains is suppressed by special equipment. The Daily Mail claims that this sound disturbs residents no more than a working dishwasher, but, according to other sources, people complain of noise and headaches.
This decision is the result of a compromise: thanks to it, it became possible not to demolish the entire building for the sake of a new monorail line. A spokesman for the Department of Urban Transport said: "Our city is very densely built up, and finding a place for new roads is becoming a difficult task."
In the city of Chongqing in the south-east of China, 49 million people live on an area of 80 thousand square kilometers — the Netherlands can fit twice in this territory (for comparison, the 12-million-strong Moscow occupies 2500 square kilometers). In such a situation, urban planners have to creatively approach the distribution of space.
Chongqing is the largest of the four cities of central subordination in China, it is located at the confluence of the Yangtze and Jialingjiang rivers. It is called the City of Mountains (Mountain City) for its steep hilly terrain.