Urban rail transit in China encompasses a broad range of

urban Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

and

suburban A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

electric passenger rail

mass transit Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whi ...

systems including subway,

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

and

maglev Maglev (derived from '' magnetic levitation'') is a system of rail transport whose rolling stock is levitated by electromagnets rather than rolled on wheels, eliminating rolling resistance. Compared to conventional railways, maglev trains h ...

. Some classifications also include non-rail bus rapid transport. As of December 2024,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

has the world's longest

urban rail transit Urban rail transit is a wide term for various types of local rail systems providing passenger service within and around urban or suburban areas. The set of urban rail systems can be roughly subdivided into the following categories, which som ...

system with of urban rail nationwide in 310 metro lines in 47 cities, accounting for 9 of the 10 longest metro systems, with the exceptions of the

Moscow Metro The Moscow Metro) is a rapid transit system in the Moscow Oblast of Russia. It serves the capital city of Moscow and the neighbouring cities of Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast, Krasnogorsk, Reutov, Lyubertsy, and Kotelniki. Opened in 1935 with one l ...

. Half of the top 10 busiest metro systems are in China, and the

Shanghai Metro The Shanghai Metro (; Shanghainese: ''Zaon6he5 Di6thiq7'') is a rapid transit system in Shanghai, operating urban and suburban transit services to 14 of its 16 List of township-level divisions of Shanghai, municipal districts and to the neighb ...

, though started operating in 1993, is now the longest metro system worldwide.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

History

Several Chinese cities had urban electric tramways in the early 20th century, most of which were dismantled in the 1950s–1970s. The only surviving tramways are in

Dalian Dalian ( ) is a major sub-provincial port city in Liaoning province, People's Republic of China, and is Liaoning's second largest city (after the provincial capital Shenyang) and the third-most populous city of Northeast China (after Shenyang ...

(Dairen) and

Changchun Changchun is the capital and largest city of Jilin, Jilin Province, China, on the Songliao Plain. Changchun is administered as a , comprising seven districts, one county and three county-level cities. At the 2020 census of China, Changchun ha ...

(see

trams in Dalian Trams have been operating in Dalian continuously since 1909, making them one of the oldest tram systems still in use in mainland China. There were once eleven routes in operation in Dalian in Northeast China. Only two routes remain in use today ...

and trams in Changchun).

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

(Nanking) had from 1907 to 1958. The first subway in China was built in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

in 1969 (but it was only handed to civilian control in 1981 and trial operations ended later in the same year; before which credentials were required). The

Tianjin Metro The Tianjin Metro or Tianjin Rail Transit is the rapid transit system in the city of Tianjin, which was the second city in mainland China after Beijing to operate a subway system (the Beijing Subway opened in 1971). First opened in 1984, the ...

followed in 1984. The

MTR Corporation Limited MTR Corporation Limited is a majority government-owned public transport operator and property developer in Hong Kong which operates the Mass Transit Railway, the most popular public transport network in Hong Kong. It is listed on the Hong K ...

from across the border in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

has investment, consulting and management stakes in the rapid transit systems of several mainland Chinese cities (having completed their first section of subway and entered into revenue operation in 1979 in New Kowloon, at the time when the territory was under British rule). The rapid growth of the Chinese economy since the 1980s has created a huge surge in demand for urban transport. This prompted cities across China to pursue and draft proposals for subway networks, with

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

and

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

opening their first sections of subway in the 1990s, inspiring more cities to propose subway networks. In 1995, the Central Government, alarmed by the high cost and financial debt from these ambitious subway plans, put out a "notice on the suspension of approval of urban underground rapid rail transit projects" barring new subway systems outside of Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Shanghai from being built. At the time

Wuhan Wuhan; is the capital of Hubei, China. With a population of over eleven million, it is the most populous city in Hubei and the List of cities in China by population, eighth-most-populous city in China. It is also one of the nine National cent ...

Chongqing ChongqingPostal Romanization, Previously romanized as Chungking ();. is a direct-administered municipality in Southwestern China. Chongqing is one of the four direct-administered municipalities under the State Council of the People's Republi ...

and

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

had advanced proposals waiting to be approved.

managed to circumvent the moratorium on subway construction by constructing and opening lower cost elevated lines,

light metro A medium-capacity system (MCS), also known as light rapid transit or light metro, is a rail transport system with a capacity greater than light rail, but less than typical heavy-rail rapid transit. MCS trains are usually 1 to 4 cars. Most medi ...

s, and

monorail A monorail is a Rail transport, railway in which the track consists of a single rail or beam. Colloquially, the term "monorail" is often used to describe any form of elevated rail or people mover. More accurately, the term refers to the style ...

s in the early 2000s.

was the first city constructing real

system in China, which began operation in 2002. Its first transit line, Line 3, is a light rail line not fully grade separated, still having four level crossings as of 2023. It's also the only rapid transit system combined light rail and rapid transit lines in China, which can directly transfer to each other. Rapid urbanization of China led to severe congestion and pollution in urban areas leading to the suspension being lifted. Initially,

lines using small profile and shorter rolling stock were constructed to reduce costs. It was assumed that as ridership grows the line will operate trains at a low headway to increase capacity. This design paradigm was known in China as "small rolling stock, high density" operation. However, after a few years operating, many of these lines such as Guangzhou Metro Line 3, Line 6, Shanghai Metro Line 6, and Line 8 were severely overcapacity. Guangzhou Metro Line 3 was able to reconfigure from 3-car trains into 6-car trains to slightly relieve overcapacity. This led many cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Chengdu to use higher capacity designs on newer lines. Since the mid-2000s, the growth of rapid transit systems in Chinese cities has rapidly accelerated, with most of the world's new subway mileage in the past decade opening in China. From 2009 to 2015, China built 87 mass transit rail lines, totaling , in 25 cities at the cost of ¥988.6 billion. In 2016, the Chinese government lowered the minimum population criteria for a city to start planning a metro system from 3 million to 1.5 million residents. As part of its 13th Five Year Plan, the Chinese government published a transport whitepaper titled "Development of China's Transport". The plan envisions a more sustainable transport system with priority focused on high-capacity public transit particularly

and bus rapid transit. All cities with over 3 million residents will start or continue to develop urban rail networks.

Regional rail Regional rail is a public transport, public rail transport service that operates between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops than inter-city rail, and unlike commuter rail, operate beyond the limits of urban areas, connectin ...

networks will be constructed internally connect and integrate urban agglomerations such as the

Jingjinji The Jing-Jin-Ji cluster is an expanded urban agglomeration consisting of Beijing (Jing), Tianjin (Jin), and Hebei (Ji). It is the biggest urban agglomeration region in North China, including an economic region surrounding the municipalities of Be ...

Yangtze River Delta The Yangtze Delta or Yangtze River Delta (YRD), once known as the Shanghai Economic Zone, is a megalopolis generally comprising the Wu-speaking areas of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu, northern Zhejiang, southern Anhui. The area lies in the he ...

and

Pearl River Delta The Pearl River Delta Metropolitan Region is the low-lying area surrounding the Pearl River estuary, where the Pearl River flows into the South China Sea. Referred to as the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macao Greater Bay Area in official documents, ...

areas. In 2017, some 43 smaller third-tier cities in China have received approval to develop subway lines.

Commencement dates of lines and extensions

;Legend: – Lines / extensions in operation.
– Lines / extensions under testing.

Rapid transit

Overview

Urban rapid transit lines

;Legend: – Lines in operation
– Lines under testing

Under construction

Construction suspended

* Baotou Metro * Hengyang Metro

Proposed

* Anqing Metro * * Chengde Metro * Chenzhou Metro * Chifeng Metro * * Datong Metro * * * Fuxin Metro * Fuyang Metro * * Guangyuan Metro * * * * * * Huzhou Metro * * * Liaocheng Metro * * * Longyan Metro * Luzhou Metro * Ma'anshan Metro * * Nanchong Metro * Nanyang Metro * Neijiang Metro * * * Quzhou Metro * Rizhao Metro * Sanya Metro * Shangrao Metro * Shiyan Metro * Suqian Metro * Tangshan Metro * * * * Weinan Metro * Wuzhou Metro * Xiangyang Metro * Xingtai Metro * Xining Metro * Xuancheng Metro * Yancheng Metro * * * Yichang Metro * Yinchuan Metro * Yulin Metro * Zhangzhou Metro * Zhanjiang Metro * * Zhongshan Metro * Zhuhai Metro * Zhuzhou Metro * Zibo Metro *

Suburban and regional rail

Tram and light rail

;Legend: - In operation.
- Under test run.

Defunct systems

* TEDA Modern Tram * Zhuhai Tram * Shanghai Zhangjiang Tram

Under construction

* Baoshan Tram * Dujiangyan Tram * Delingha Modern Tram * Guiyang Tram * Lijiang Tram * Turpan Tram * Xi'an High-tech Zone Tram * Zhangye Danxia Tram

Monorail and maglev

Under Construction

* Enshi Prefecture Tourism Rail Transit *

Guang'an Metro Guang'an Metro or Guang'an Rail Transit () or Guang'an SkyRail is a light metro monorail system using BYD SkyRail monorail technology in Guang'an, Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tib ...

* Guilin Rail Transit *

Jining Rail Transit Jining Rail Transit is a public transport system under construction in Jining, Shandong, China. The first phase to be completed will be the Confucius and Mencius tourist line, which employs BYD SkyRail monorail technology. Trains will have a m ...

*Anyang Rail Transit * Qingyuan Maglev * Shantou Metro * Liuzhou Rail Transit * Bengbu Rail Transit

Summary

Provincial statistics

List of rapid transit systems by province

Anhui

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei

Chongqing-Sichuan

Fujian

Gansu

Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau

Guangxi

Guizhou

Heilongjiang

Henan

Hubei

Hunan

Inner Mongolia

Jiangxi

Jilin

Liaoning

Shaanxi

Shandong

Shanghai-Jiangsu-Zhejiang

Shanxi

Xinjiang

Yunnan

Notes

References

External links

China Urban Mass Transit NetworkUrban Mass Transit Industry NetUrban Mass Transportation Research

chinametro.org

China Bus Rapid Transit Network

2016 China Urban Rail Transit Network
{{Transport in China

History

Commencement dates of lines and extensions

Rapid transit

Overview

Urban rapid transit lines

Under construction

Construction suspended

Proposed

Suburban and regional rail

Tram and light rail

Defunct systems

Under construction

Monorail and maglev

Under Construction

Summary

Provincial statistics

List of rapid transit systems by province

Anhui

Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei

Chongqing-Sichuan

Fujian

Gansu

Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau

Guangxi

Guizhou

Heilongjiang

Henan

Hubei

Hunan

Inner Mongolia

Jiangxi

Jilin

Liaoning

Shaanxi

Shandong

Shanghai-Jiangsu-Zhejiang

Shanxi

Xinjiang

Yunnan

See also

Notes

References

External links