Metro Guangzhou: features, interesting facts, lines and stations

Guangzhou is an important industrial, scientific and commercial center of China with a very developed transport system. One of the components of this system is underground. He is the sixth on the planet in terms of passenger traffic. What else is interesting in Guangzhou Metro? Our article will tell about it.

Guangzhou - the city of furniture, chandeliers and sanitary ware

Guangzhou is an amazing city in China. In the vicinity there is a shopping center Foshan with a huge selection of construction, finishing materials, as well as sanitary ware. In the suburbs of Guangzhou is concentrated at least a thousand furniture factories and companies. Their total total area is 3.5 million square meters! In addition, the city produces about 60% of all chandeliers and lamps in China. It is for these reasons that Guangzhou is sometimes jokingly called "the capital of furniture and chandeliers."

If to speak more seriously, this city is a large scientific, educational and commercial and industrial center of China. Guangzhou without exaggeration can be called one of the main industrial locomotives of the country. The population of the metropolis has long exceeded the mark of 10 million people.

In this article, we will focus our attention on the transport of the Chinese city, namely - on the metro system. Guangzhou can boast of a highly developed and deeply thought out transport system, which includes underground, trolleybuses, buses, and high-speed trains.

Acquaintance with the metro. General facts

If you travel by plane, the subway will become the second object in this metropolis, with which you will get acquainted. To the north of the city is the airport of Guangzhou. The metro station with the same name is at its Southern terminal. It is here that the orange branch of the local subway originates - the longest in the whole world.

In 1997, the first passenger car passed the city of Guangzhou. The local subway system became the fourth in the PRC. Today, it is among the world's top ten metro systems by size and congestion. By 2020 it is planned to lay at least three more lines.

Metro in Guangzhou goes far beyond the city, connecting the metropolis with a number of suburban settlements. Passengers here daily transport more than 800 cars. The daily passenger traffic is estimated at about 1.8 million people. The fare is paid by means of tokens or special payment cards and depends on the distance. Disabled people and the elderly (over 65 years old) use the services of the underground for free.

Guangzhou Metro Scheme: lines and stations

Today the city has 9 subway lines. Each of them in the diagram is indicated by a separate color:

• Line 1 (yellow).
• Line 2 (blue).
• Line 3 (orange).
• Line 4 (green).
• Line 5 (red).
• Line 6 (purple).
• Line 8 (light blue).
• Line Guangfou-1 (light green).
• Line AWP (blue).

Two more lines (the seventh and the ninth) are now being actively built.

The total number of operating stations is 144. The total length of all nine lines is 236 kilometers. All Guangzhou Metro stations are signed in two languages: Chinese and English. Indexes and other information signs under the ground are also bilingual.

Features and interesting facts

Almost all travelers note that the metro in Guangzhou is special. True, compare it in beauty with the Stockholm or Moscow can not. For decoration and decoration of local stations is characterized by minimalism, restraint and a kind of asceticism. Lush decor, beautiful stained-glass windows and mosaics here, alas, no.

The fare in the subway of Guangzhou depends on the distance. For disposable or rare trips it is more profitable to buy tokens, for reusable - special cards. Due to the thoughtful navigation and numerous maps, it is very easy to navigate in the local metro, even without knowledge of the Chinese language.

For sure, all tourists will be interested to get acquainted with the most curious facts and peculiarities of the work of the Guangzhou Metro. Here they are:

• The passenger platforms here are separated from the tracks by solid glass partitions that open simultaneously with the doors of the approaching train;
• At stations and platforms, mobile fences for regulating the movement of passengers are very often met (like those at airports);
• Metro in Guangzhou is quite spacious, large crush here is rare even in the rush hour;
• At the stations you can see the original "honor boards" on which the best metro workers are posted;
• Each metro station has a clean and free toilet;
• To get to the city from the interchange (junction) station, you must first go to another branch of the subway;
• All commercial advertising is completely absent on escalators;
• The whole subway in the Chinese city of Guangzhou convenient, comfortable and very clean.

Conclusion

Metro Guangzhou - one of the components of the transport system of this Chinese city. The local metro system began operating in 1997. To date, 9 lines have been laid here, one of which is the longest in the world.