With 53km of New Track, Beijing Subway Continues Expansion

Beijing’s epic subway system added 53 kilometers of new track in 2021, raising the total track length to 780 km, meaning the capital retains its title of second longest subway system in the world – second only to Shanghai. 

Shanghai boasts the world's longest subway network, according to a recent report by the Global Times. With the city’s latest addition of Line 14, the total length of the Shanghai Metro now stands at 831 km.

However, when it comes to both Beijing and Shanghai, no one else comes even close – the third longest network, according to Wikipedia, is Guangzhou’s, with a mere 531 km of track.

For comparison’s sake, Beijing’s 780 km make it longer than the US’s three biggest subway networks combined – New York, Washington DC, and San Francisco – which are 399 km, 188 km, and 187 km respectively for a total length of 774 km.

Likewise, it’s almost as long the New York City Subway (399 km) and London Underground (409 km) combined, as both add up to 808 km.

But while Shanghai might surpass Beijing in terms of subway length, what about other metrics such as the number of lines and stations?

With its latest line additions – Line 14 plus a new section of Line 18 – Shanghai now boasts 508 stations and 20 lines according to the same Global Times report. Beijing comes close behind in the station count with 450 according to Beijing Daily, but beats Shanghai with a total of 25 lines in total.

Shanghai also has us beat on driverless carriages: over 160 km of its network are serviced by driverless trains.

That being said, several new lines are slated to open this week in Beijing, including a new section of Line 14, the Western section of Line 11, and Line 19.

Next year looks like a slow one for new lines in the capital, with not much happening beyond the extension of Line 16 into the southern nether regions of Fengtai and renovations on portions of Line 1.

It will be a different story in 2023 though when the east-west Line 3 and the north-south Line 17 are due to open – bisecting right at Worker’s Stadium.

What lines are you looking forward to hopping on in the near future? How often do you take the subway to get around? Let us know in the comments!

READ: Capital Airport Express Will Soon Connect to Line 5, and Other Subway News

Images: travelfreak.com, Beijing Daily, Global Times, sh.sina.com.cn