Imagine one day, you can take the metro from Guangzhou to Shenzhen, and it will take you only 30 minutes to travel from Guangzhou's downtown to Nansha, the city’s southernmost district.
Now, your wishes will not be dreams any more! Along with the accelerated building of intercity rails, once you enter the nearest metro station, you will be able to travel conveniently in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA)!
The Guangzhou Municipal Development and Reform Commission has recently released its plan for 2021 key construction projects. Among them, the progresses of the four intercity railway projects have been advanced, they are:
Nansha-Zhuhai (Zhongshan) intercity rail (Guangzhou Metro Line 18 South Extension),
Foshan via Guangzhou to Dongguan intercity rail (Guangzhou Metro Line 28),
Fangcun - Baiyun Airport intercity rail (Guangzhou Metro Line 22 North Extension),
Guangzhou East - Huadu Tiangui intercity rail (Guangzhou Metro Line 18 North Extension).
"Trans - Bay Area" rail: Guangzhou Metro Line 28
The intercity between Foshan and Dongguan via Guangzhou (Guangzhou Metro Line 28) is known as the first "transverse railway" in the Greater Bay Area, with a total length of 107 km and investment of 95.3 billion yuan. The main passing points include: Dongping New Town, Fangcun, Yuzhu, Xintang. The Guangzhou section is about 49.9 km long.
The function of this line is to construct an east-west city express, which will build a fast passage among Guangzhou, Foshan, Dongguan and Huizhou cities. The Guangzhou section connects its four districts: Liwan, Haizhu, Huangpu, and Zengcheng. After passing Xintang station, Line 28 extends from Zhongtang and Wanjiang to the city proper of Dongguan. The line will adopt 8-car trains with a maximum speed of 160 km/h.
In the future, the Guangzhou Metro Line 28 will connect with Shenzhen Metro at the Songshan Lake in Dongguan.
Sketch map of Metro Line 28
Based on the released planning info, Line 28 will connect Foshan Dongping CBD, Guangzhou Bai'etan CBD, Pazhou E-commerce District, Second CBD, Xintang East Business District, Songshan Lake High-tech Zone and Dongguan Wanjiang Business District, which will be the most dynamic and developing areas of the three cities in the future.
Two "Vertical Axes" in the Bay Area: Guangzhou Metro Line 18 and 22
Guangzhou Metro will strive to begin the construction of the Line 18 south extension at the end of this year. This section is expected to be opened to traffic in 2024 or 2025, and by then to be linked to Zhuhai. It will become a major south-north traffic artery in the Bay Area.
Sketch map of Metro Line 18
The north extension of Line 18 is about 38.5 kilometers long with 7 stations. The connecting line will be 7.5 kilometers long, from Fenghuang Nanlu to Guangzhou North Railway Station.
The Line 22 north extension is about 40.2 kilometers long and has 9 stations.
By 2023, the mileage of Guangzhou Metro will exceed 800 kilometers, the current mileage of which is 531 kilometers. Line 18 and Line 22, currently under construction, boast a design speed of 160 km/h, which are now China’s fastest line of Metros under construction.
Sketch map of Metro Line 22
In 2021, Guangzhou will strive to open the first section of Line 18 (Wanqingsha-Xiancun, 58.3 km) and the first section of Line 22 (Panyu Square-Chentougang, 18.2 km for trial operation, and achieve a breakthrough in operating mileage - 600 km.
After Line 18 and Line 22 are fully opened to traffic, it will only take 30 minutes to travel from Guangzhou's downtown to Nansha.