THE pace of metro expansion in China shows no sign of relenting, with the 11km western extension of Line 4 in the southwestern city of Chongqing opening on February 10. It serves nine stations between Min’an Dadao and the new Line 4 terminus at Shunshuisi gongyuan, although this station has yet to open. Construction began in March 2021.

Construction of Phase 1 of Line 15 in Chongqing was completed in October. It is expected to open later this year together with Phase 2, when 71km of new infrastructure will enter service. Other metro lines expected to open this year or in 2027 include Line 7 (27.8km), Line 17 (14.2km), Line 24 (18.9km), Line 27 (56km), and the eastern extension of Line 19 (10.6km).

In Tianjin, the northern section of Phase 1 of Line Z4 opened on January 18. It serves the Binhai district in the Tianjin Economic Development Area (TEDA), running for 23.8km from Zhaishang in the north to Beitang in the south with eight intermediate stations. It is at present isolated from the rest of Tianjin metro network.

Services run every eight to 10 minutes from 06.30 to 21.30. The fleet of six-car trains operates at up to 120km/h.

Construction of the southern section is expected to be completed in 2027, taking the total length of Line Z4 to 43.7km. The southern section will serve 13 stations and run to Binhai, where it will provide interchange with metro Line 9 and the Tianjin - Qinhuangdao high-speed line.

Binhai will also provide interchange with the 52km east-west Line Z2, which will terminate at Zhongxin Dado in the city centre when it is completed next year. Line Z2 will add a second metro line between the city and TEDA in addition to Line 9.

In Guangzhou, the southern extension of the Guangzhou - Qingyuan inter-city line opened on January 28, serving Guangzhou Baiyun station. The extension is 22km long with four stations and was built by Guangzhou Metro’s Pearl River Delta Intercity Company.

33 billion journeys in 2025

A total of 33 billion passenger-journeys were recorded on China’s urban rail systems in 2025, up 3.2% on the year before, according to statistics released by the Ministry of Transport on January 30. 

Traffic in Tianjin was up 4.5% year-on-year at 668 million passenger journeys, with Shanghai topping the national table at 3.69 billion, albeit 1.9% down on the year before. Beijing was in second place at 3.57 billion, down 1.3%.

At the end of 2025, 382 urban rail lines were in operation in 58 cities across China, totalling 13,071km in length. New openings totalled 55 or 910km last year, including 701km of new metro lines, 110km of inter-city lines and 60.5km of light rail lines.

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