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Chongqing Metro Line 4 West Extension undergoing testing. Opening hopefully in January 2026. Chongqing Metro Line 4 W Ext is a 11km 9 station inner city underground extension estimated to cost 235 million INT$./km to build. Video by 安小飞.

Background:

Dongguan Metro Line 1 undergoing final testing opening scheduled for 28 November 2025. Which is.... OMG in 2 days.

That being said Line 24 will have similar standards to Line 8 (6 car Type A trains) but will be built with higher line speeds (100kph vs 80kph of Line 8). So looking forward to this addition to the rapidly growing Guangzhou Metro network. (END)

BUT the project is now called the "Line 8 Northern Extension and Southern Branch". Guangzhou Metro hid an entirely new line (Line 24) in an innocuously named extension the project. (probs to make it easier to get approval) 🤣😂 Only in China do you disguise a 30km line as a simple "extension project".

There will be a same direction cross platform interchange between Line 8 and 24 at Jiangfu and connection tracks between the two lines are planned in, should the future need some thru op reverse branch craziness between Line 8 and 24....

So magic happens and the original Line 8 northern northern extension (right) got cut back, the branch and northern section to Guangzhou North Railway station is combined to become a new 40km long Line, Line 24. (left)...

.... the new regulations on urban line length means the longer slog from Guangzhou North Station via Line 8 (blue in previous map) can not exist. So the plan below can not just be an extension of Line 8 with a branch line...

This new regulation led to the explosion of high speed metro lines and long metro lines with higher operating speeds and passing loops for express/local services being constructed accross China. But more importantly for our case....

See below in blue for this monster branch line. Pink is the other direct branch, as shown in the previous train service diagram. However, new regulations restrict the route length of urban metro lines to prevent long unwieldly lines proposed in this plan....

The leg going thru the original Line 8 and the proposed Eastern Extension (both in blue below) would create a 80km long service with tight urban stop spacings and only 80kph running....

A complicated service was proposed for this project with L8 trains from Guangzhou N Station reverse branching with one leg going thru original L8 and beyond via Eastern Ext (blue) and the other a direct route to Guangzhou center (dashed red line in previous map, pink line here)....

Later a southern branch paralleling Line 8 heading into Guangzhou city center was added to the Line 8 Northern Northern Extension proposal (red dashed line). Just cause....

Originally Line 8 was planned heading to Guangzhou North Railway station in Huadu District in a project called the Northern Northern Extension (八號綫北北延段) as there was already was a Northern Extension underway from Cultural Park to Baiyunhu (白云湖) which today called Jiaoxin...

Line 24 is part of the "Line 8 Northern Extension and Southern Branch" project which started construction in 2023, adding +30km of additional under construction metro, cementing Guangzhou-Foshan with the largest metro expansion program in the world. However the project looks insanely strange...

What is wild is you can just find detailed plans for metro projects in early works posted to the public online or physically at construction sites in China. Like for Guangzhou Metro Line 24 below in order: Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, Huangshi and Xiamao Stations....

以中城之名重塑下的26号线解析 ？

Most pictures from here:

4) Consortium consisting of Shanghai Urban Planning and Design Institute; Aedas Global (Asia) Limited; Jones Lang LaSalle Surveyors.

3) Consortium consisting of Tsinghua University Architectural Design and Research Institute; Nikken Sekkei (Shanghai) Architectural Design Consulting; MADA spam LLC; Colliers Property Consultants, Shanghai

2) Consortium consisting of Shanghai Tongji Urban Planning and Design Institute; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (Shanghai) Architectural Design; Hassell Limited

1) MLA+BV consortium consisting of Shanghai Landscape Architecture Design & Research Institute; CCCC Investment Consulting; BDP Architectural Design Consulting.

Line 26 is an integrated urban concept as planning for urban development around ring line is done concurrently. Four consortiums showcased their preliminary masterplanning concepts for the "Shanghai Midtown" anchored by Line 26. They came up with...

In April 2025, the Shanghai Municipal Planning formally solicited for international urban design proposals on master planning TOD and urban integration for a future +80km long loop transit line (Line 26) in a ring area they dubbed "上海中城" (Shanghai Midtown? probs reference for middle ring)...

The original plan for Line 26 called for a smaller diameter +70km long ring line with over 50 stations. (old plans below) Now it is a much larger/wider express loop line with less missed interchanges....

Further refinements unveiled for Shanghai Metro Line 26 integrated urban concept this month. Line 26 is a massive outer ring metro line for Shanghai. Compared to the previous concept the ring line was expanded wider to become a ~100km long, 40 station long express loop line....

If you have money to throw around with friends - why not blow it all on a Junk tour around the Victoria Harbour?

Reporting on tonight’s show from the #TransitMappingSymposium in #HongKong. Impressed by the range of young, enthusiastic & talented designers from around the world…(& some of their guérilla tactics to improve design & #wayfinding)! Check it out now: www.vectisradio.com/podcast/catc...

Like you said speed, technique and economies of scale make a huge difference if scale, difficulty and scope of a project is controlled.

PPP adjustments (into INT$ or international dollars) try to convert the cost into somewhat accounting for local labor and exchange rates. A nominal conversion would mean this metro line costed under 100 million USD/km to construct which is obviously misleading.

All pictures posted by 成轨脉动MyronZhou. (6/6)