The east-west Line 1 will be 27.8km long with 22 stations. Construction will begin on the Yuan 20.19bn ($US 3bn) project in May 2017 and commissioning is scheduled for 2021.

The first phase of the north-south Line 2 will be 14.3km long with 11 stations and has a budget of Yuan 10.36bn. Construction is due to begin in 2018 and the line will open in 2022.

Services on both lines will be operated by a fleet of six-car type B metro trains operating at a maximum of 80km/h.

In the longer-term a 182.5km six-line network with 125 stations is envisaged.

Baotou map