A number of metro and regional lines have opened across China, with the Shenzhen metro surpassing the 500km mark.  

Shenzhen Line 12 and the 6.13km extension of Line 6 opened on November 28, expanding the city’s metro network to 518.35km across 16 lines, along with 11.7km of light rail lines.

The Line 6 extension is being built in two phases, with the first phase running 6.13km from Guangming station to SIAT on the boundary of Shenzhen and Dongguan, with four stations.

The 40.54km Line 12 runs from Zuo Fortai East station in the south to Hai Hai Tian Yuan East station in the north, with 33 stations. It is the first metro line in Shenzhen to be built under a public-private partnership (PPP).

Shenzhen will have opened a total of 128km of new metro lines by the end of 2022, taking the total network length to 559km. This includes the opening of the 50.3km Gangxia North - Shatian Line 14, and the 1.2km Futian - Gangxia North section of Line 11 on October 28. Line 16 and the 8.4km Line 20 are also due to open before the end of this year.

Tianjin

Tianjin metro Line 10 opened on November 18, running 21km from Yudongcheng station in Hedong District in the north to Yutai station in Xiqing district in the south, with 21 stations. The Tianjin metro now has 181 stations, including 23 interchanges.

The line is operated with B-type trains, supplied by CRRC, which are equipped with battery traction and a radar-assisted collision-avoidance system, along with LCD passenger information screens featuring a route map.

Lijiang

The first phase of the Lijiang Tour Train project, a 20.8km line from the Unesco world heritage site at Lijiang Old Town to the national Yulong Snow Mountain scenic location, opened on November 28.

The line in Lijiang city in Yunnan province has a design speed of 70km/h and has a maximum 5.5% gradient and a 50m minimum curve radius. The trains feature panoramic windows and will serve many tourist sites including Yushui Village, Dongba Valley and Ganhaizi Meadow, with an end-to-end journey time of 20 minutes.

Construction of the railway began in September 2020, and project teams have overcome many difficulties such as unfavourable geological conditions, high altitude and measures to protect the fragile environment.

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