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source: time weekly author: wang chenting

guangdong, which has the country's first subway line that crosses prefecture-level administrative regions, will soon welcome a new cross-city subway.

on september 18, the official website of guangzhou metro released the first public information disclosure of the environmental impact assessment of the part of the planning of the second phase of dongguan metro line 1 located in guangzhou. according to the plan, dongguan metro line 1 will transfer to guangzhou metro line 5 at guangzhou huangpu xingang station.

from planning to completion, it may take some time for the guangzhou-dongguan metro line to be connected. but in sichuan, the first inter-city rail transit chengzi line is about to open; the shanghai-suzhou metro connecting shanghai and suzhou and the changsha metro line 3 south extension connecting changjiang and xiangtan have just been in operation for a year.

more and more cities are being brought closer by inter-city subways. in the era of metropolitan areas, inter-city subways are gradually becoming a new "standard feature".

image source: tuchong creative

cross-city subway construction boom

ms. liu has been commuting from midea avenue in shunde, foshan to taojin station in yuexiu, guangzhou for three years, with two transfers and a 70-minute one-way commute every day.

although the daily commute time is long, the existence of the guangzhou-foshan line has made "living in foshan and working in guangzhou" a reality. back in 2010, the first guangzhou-foshan line across prefecture-level administrative regions in china was opened, connecting guangzhou haizhu and liwan with foshan chancheng, nanhai and shunde, and the "tale of two cities" of guangzhou and foshan began.

more than a decade after opening, the integration of guangzhou and foshan has become closer, with four subway lines in foshan seamlessly connected to the guangzhou subway. the 2023 guangzhou transportation development annual report shows that guangzhou and foshan have as many as 1.85 million commuters per day, 1.4 times that of shenzhen and dongguan, accounting for 27% of the total inter-city travel in the bay area.

according to the blueprint for rail transit construction in guangzhou and foshan in the "guangzhou metropolitan area development plan", an urban rail network centered on guangzhou will be built in the future, and 18 connecting channels of the guangzhou-foshan metro will be implemented to achieve "one ticket for one city".

the "twin cities" of guangzhou and foshan are undoubtedly xi'an and xianyang.

after more than two thousand years of administrative separations and reunions, the "twins" of guanzhong now share an airport and the integrated xixian new area, and are also closely connected by rail transit.

currently, there are three inter-city subway lines between xi'an and xianyang. xi'an metro line 1 starts from fenghe forest park station in xixian new district, xianyang, and ends at textile city station in baqiao district, xi'an. xi'an metro line 5 starts from innovation port station in xixian new district, xi'an, and ends at xi'an east station in baqiao district. xi'an metro line 14, the xi'an xianyang airport line, connects xi'an north station to xianyang international airport.

xianyang west station is connected to xi'an metro line 1. (photo source: times weekly reporter wang chenting/photo)

the first inter-provincial subway is in the shanghai metropolitan area. the northern extension project of shanghai metro line 11 was completed and opened to traffic in 2013, connecting anting town in shanghai and huaqiao in kunshan city, suzhou, jiangsu province, becoming the first inter-provincial subway line in my country.

ten years later, in june 2023, suzhou metro line 11 was officially opened, joining hands with shanghai line 11. compared with the previous lines, the connection of the two line 11s has realized the connection between the central urban areas of two trillion-level cities, and the longest subway line in the country was born.

according to the plan, suzhou metro will also be connected with wuxi metro, all the way to southern jiangsu shuofang airport.

also in the yangtze river delta region, hangzhou, as the center of the hangzhou metropolitan area, is also extending the city's boundaries with subway lines. shaoxing metro line 1 (keqiao section), which opened in 2021, seamlessly connects to hangzhou metro line 5, completely opening up the integrated map of hangzhou and shaoxing; hangzhou metro hanghai line, connecting hangzhou and haining, will also open in 2021.

in addition to those that have already been opened for operation, there are also many cross-city or cross-provincial subway lines under construction.

in the beijing metropolitan area, beijing rail transit line 22 (pinggu line) is beijing's first inter-provincial subway line, spanning chaoyang district, tongzhou district, pinggu district of beijing and sanhe city of hebei province. after completion, it will help the integrated development of urban transportation in beijing, tianjin and hebei, and is expected to be completed and opened to traffic in 2025.

members of the chengdu-chongqing metropolitan area are also building their first inter-city subway. the ziyang rail transit line starts at futian station on chengdu rail transit line 18 and ends at ziyang north high-speed railway station. ziyang connects the "dual cores" of chengdu and chongqing at the same time, and is an important part of the chengdu-chongqing economic zone and the chengdu economic zone.

on september 14, the ziyang rail transit line welcomed the first batch of trial passengers. in the future, ziyang north station will realize "four stations in one", that is, high-speed rail station, bus station, rail transit station, and bus station with "zero transfer".

what are the advantages of cross-city subways?

it is worth noting that many rail transit lines that cross administrative regions are urban railways. for example, on september 13, the changliu express line launched a bidding for civil construction. this is the first urban rail line in hunan, connecting changsha and liuyang.

however, there are still some differences between urban rail and inter-city subways.

generally speaking, urban rail covers a wider area, usually connecting a central city with small and medium-sized cities, satellite cities and suburbs within 100 kilometers of the surrounding area, and the operating speed is usually around 80-160 kilometers per hour. inter-city subways are usually concentrated between two or more adjacent large cities or core cities in metropolitan areas, and the operating speed is generally similar to that of ordinary subways, about 60-100 kilometers per hour, mainly serving inter-city commuting needs.

urban rail has strengthened the connection between the central city and surrounding cities, but it is difficult to replace the significance of inter-city subways for commuting.

according to the 2022 yangtze river delta urban intercity commuter annual report released by niu xinyi's team from the school of architecture and urban planning at tongji university, 68.8% of intercity commuters working in shanghai come from kunshan, and more than half of them live in huaqiao town alone. the core reason behind this is that shanghai metro line 11 runs to kunshan huaqiao.

in addition, the most core advantage of cross-city subways compared to trains, urban rail, etc. is that they are cheap.

the 12306 website shows that the full-trip fare for the guangzhou-foshan south ring intercity railway (panyu station - foshan west station) is 21 yuan, the full-trip fare for the foshan-dongguan intercity railway (panyu station - dongguan west station) is 22 yuan, and the fare from foshan west station to dongguan west station is 45 yuan.

if you choose to take the subway, even if it is across the city, the one-way fare will generally not exceed 10 yuan. for example, taking the subway from guangzhou panyu square to pujun north road in the center of foshan is about 8 yuan.

although the price advantage of the subway is still unmatched, the urban subway is gradually becoming "subway-like". at the end of 2021, guangzhou metro group will officially take over the intercity railway in the pearl river delta from guangzhou railway group, further improving the convenience of riding the intercity railway, including swiping cards to enter the station like the subway and more frequent trains.

avoiding subway waste is also an issue that needs to be considered. (photo source: times weekly reporter wang chenting/photo)

whether it is inter-city subway or urban railway, it is an important part of the urban circle development strategy.

for example, the construction of urban agglomerations such as the beijing-tianjin-hebei region, the yangtze river delta, and the guangdong-hong kong-macao greater bay area has become a national strategy, and the hangzhou metropolitan area and the chengdu-chongqing urban agglomeration are also accelerating their formation. in the concept of urban agglomerations, the "one-hour commuting circle" is its basic scope. as an efficient and fast means of transportation, inter-city subways can greatly shorten the commuting time between cities, promote the flow of factors such as population, resources, and capital within them, and lay a solid foundation for coordinated development and integration among regions.

in the view of lu ming, distinguished professor at antai college of economics and management, shanghai jiao tong university, regional integrated development has an important relationship with integrated rail transit construction. with the in-depth promotion of unified planning and coordinated integrated rail transit construction, the energy level of inter-provincial adjacent regions will continue to improve, and the linkage of large, medium and small urban circles connected by rail transit will also be strengthened, which will help to further shape a higher-quality regional development pattern.

"take shanghai line 11 as an example. this is by no means just a matter of cross-provincial subway operation. more importantly, it will bring about changes in the 'boundaries' between cities," lu ming told the times weekly reporter.

on the other hand, inter-city subways have also fulfilled the "subway dream" of some cities. the central city of the metropolitan area extends its "border" to other cities within the metropolitan area, and has also brought subways to some third- and fourth-tier cities.

according to the "opinions on further strengthening the planning, construction and management of urban rail transit" issued by the general office of the state council in 2018, cities applying to build subways must have a gdp of more than 300 billion yuan, a permanent urban population of more than 3 million, and an initial passenger traffic intensity of no less than 7,000 passengers per kilometer per day. less than half of all cities that have opened subways meet this standard.

for example, jiaxing city does not meet the relevant requirements, but with the help of hangzhou, it has a line connecting hangzhou and jiaxing haining; xianyang's gdp in 2023 will be less than 300 billion yuan, but through its "twin" relationship with xi'an, it also has three subway lines; the chengzi line, which is about to be opened for operation, has 7 rail transit stations in ziyang.