As the construction of Guangzhou Metro Line 18 is under construction, Guangzhou and Foshan have successively developed an inviting public bid for the regulatory planning of Metro Line 28. Starting from Guangzhou, Line 28 connects East and West in Foshan and Dongguan, and Line 18 extends north-south to Zhongshan, Zhuhai and Qingyuan. A new metro pattern of the GBA is taking shape now.

Guangzhou Metro Line 18 stretches to Zhongshan and Zhuhai

Great news! Guangzhou Metro Line 18, which has been under construction since 2017, will be further extended to Zhongshan and Zhuhai, according to Yao Yisheng, an NPC deputy and Zhuhai's mayor during a group discussion of the Guangdong delegation at the third session of the 13th National People's Congress, China's top legislature, in Beijing on May 23rd.

Once the metro line comes into operation, it will cut travel time from the city of Zhongshan to Guangzhou Nansha Free Trade Zone (FTZ) to only 20 minutes, and reduce journey time to Zhujiang New Town to a mere 40 minutes.

How is this possible? Guangzhou Metro Line 18 will reach a whopping 160 kilometers per hour, making it the fastest subway line in the country.

Guangzhou Metro Line 18 is designed to connect various districts of Guangzhou and also to connect Guangzhou to the surrounding cities.

Running south to north, from Wanqingsha in Nansha to Guangzhou East Railway Station in Tianhe, Line 18 will pass through the Nansha FTZ, Panyu Square, Pazhou, and Zhujiang New Town. It has room allocated for a northbound extension to the city of Qingyuan.

Southward, the line will run onward to Zhongshan in the form of an intercity railway. Its extension will meet with the Guangzhou-Zhuhai intercity railway at Tsuihang Station, and then enter Zhuhai, according to the government of Nanlang, a town in Zhongshan.

Guangzhou-Zhuhai intercity railway features a station in Tsuihang New District, Zhongshan. (Photo: Southern Metropolis Daily)

Tsuihang Station under construction.

Based on the current construction status, Tsuihang Station is expected to be completed at the end of August, be tested in September, and will come into operation before National Day (October 1st). The specific opening time will be jointly decided by its construction unit the Guangdong Guangzhu Intercity Rail Transit Co., Ltd and the Zhongshan government.

Cheng Xuechang, the person in charge of Line 18's Panyu section explained that the pandemic has put the construction one month behind schedule, but the company will still continue construction according to the original plan.

The main structure of Panyu Square Station is currently undergoing construction, and Hengli Station has recently been roofed in.

Cheng added that Guangzhou Metro will strive to open Line 18 next year (2021), but that the schedule is still subject to change due to the pandemic and other factors. The company will make an announcement on the opening in due course.

In addition, Guangzhou Metro announced that it will establish a rail transit operation system entitled 'one network, one ticket, one city cluster' in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. As of now, the nine cities of Guangdong included in the GBA have a current track length of 1,164 km, and a planned total of 6,000 km.

High-speed subway to connect Guangzhou, Foshan and Dongguan

The provisionally line map of Metro Line 28

Recently, Guangzhou and Foshan have successively developed an inviting public bid for the regulatory planning of Metro Line 28. According to official documentation, Metro Line 28 is to be a high-speed east-west subway, connecting Dongguan with Guangzhou, the provincial capital, and the important city of Foshan. In addition, the branch of Line 28 will be further extended to Huizhou city from Xintang station.

It is already public knowledge that Metro Line 28 is expected to be one of the fastest subway lines in the country, reaching speeds of up to 160kph. It will link 5 main cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, which is the same as Line 18.

The direction of the route has been provisionally planned: the main line of Metro Line 28 will curve east from Foshan urban centre via Foshan West station, and then run across Fangcun station into Guangzhou. The line will pass through Luntou station, Yuzhu station, Jitang station and Xintang station in Guangzhou and then turn southeast through Dongjiang river, via Liaobu town to Dongcheng district and Wanjiang town in Dongguan. The branch line is expected to extend from Xintang to Huizhou via the Green New Town.

According to current planning information, Metro Line 28 connects Foshan Dongping CBD, Guangzhou Bai'etan CBD, Pazhou E-commerce Headquarters, the Second CBD, Xintang Eastern Business District and Dongguan Wanjiang Business District, which are all the most dynamic and promising regions in the three cities.

Although the line map is subject to adjustments, the general direction has been clearly defined.