Shenzhen Metro

 

Early planning

In late 1983, Party Secretary of Shenzhen Mayor Liang Xiang led a team to Singapore to study its mass transit system. Upon returning it was decided that 30 metres (98 ft 5 in) on each side of Shennan Avenue should be protected as a green belt, and to set aside a 16-metre (52 ft 6 in) wide median reserved for a light rail or light metro line. In 1984, the "Shenzhen Special Economic Zone Master Plan (1985–2000)" pointed out that, with the growing population and traffic in Shenzhen, a light metro system would not have sufficient capacity to meet future demand. Instead the report proposed a heavy rail subway line to be built along Shennan Avenue. The project was finally approved by the Central Planning Department in 1992.

In August 1992, during and re-feasibility and rail network planning, The Shenzhen Municipal Government decided to move from building a light metro line to a heavy rail subway line. The rapid growth of Shenzhen City made a lower capacity light metro line impractical. In 1994, Shenzhen organized the preparation of the "Shenzhen urban rail network master plan" to be incorporated into the "Shenzhen City Master Plan (1996–2010)". The city's vision for an urban rail network would consists of nine lines. Of the nine transit lines, three of them would be commuter rail lines upgraded from existing national mainline railways. The total length of the proposed network would be about 270 km (170 mi). The three upgraded commuter rail lines would overlap the Guangzhou–Shenzhen railway, Pinghu–Nanshan railway and Pingyan railway. This plan established the basic framework for the Shenzhen Metro network.

Construction suspended and restarted

In December 1995, the State Council issued the "moratorium on approval of urban rapid transit projects" to suspend approval of rail transit projects in all Chinese cities except Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. The Shenzhen Metro project was postponed. In 1996, prior to the handover of Hong Kong, authorities attempted to restart construction by renaming the project "The Luohu, Huanggang / Lok Ma Chau border crossing passenger rail connection project", stressing that the project is designed to meet the potential growing demand for cross-border passenger traffic after the handover.

In 1997, Shenzhen reapplied its Subway plans to the State Planning Commission, and received approval in May 1998. The project was renamed the "Shenzhen Metro first phase". In July 1998, SZMC (Shenzhen Metro Group). was formally established. By April 1999, the subway project feasibility study report has been approved by the state.

Phase I (1998–2004)

Construction of the first sections of Line 1 and Line 4 began in 1999. The grand opening of the Shenzhen Metro system occurred at 5:00 pm on Tuesday, December 28, 2004. This made Shenzhen the seventh city in mainland China to have a subway after Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Dalian and Wuhan.

Initially the trains operated at 15-minute frequencies and consisted of Line 1 services between Luohu and Shijie Zhi Chuang (now Window of the World) and the Line 4 services between Fumin and Shaonian Gong (now Children's Palace). Initially the English names of the stations were rendered in Hanyu Pinyin, but some of the names were changed to English translation with American spelling in mid-2011.

The Futian Checkpoint station opened on 28 June 2007 using the name Huanggang.

Name changes

On April 23, 2008, Shenzhen Municipal Planning Bureau announced that it would change the nomenclature of Shenzhen's subway lines according to the "2007 Urban Rail Transit Plan Scheme". Instead of using numbers as the lines official designation, as typically used in other mainland Chinese metro systems, lines would be given Chinese names more akin to the Hong Kong MTR. In 2010, the Scheme was reviewed and adjusted with new routes and names in addition to newly proposed lines. On 23 October 2013, the SZMC (Shenzhen Metro Group) decided that current operational lines will have their number and names combined, while future lines will only be numbered. Due to the change in the construction order of several lines, some numerical names have been reviewed in order to prevent big jump between numbers. By 2016, only numerical names are used.

Lines currently in operation:

Lines under construction:

Phase II (2007–2011)

From 2004 to 2007, there was a lack of official government interest and attention to expanding the subway after completion of Phase 1 with little or no active projects. Subway construction speed was ridiculed as "earthworm speed". On 17 January 2007 Shenzhen won the right to host the 2011 Universiade. In the bid Shenzhen committed to complete 155 km (96 mi) of subway lines before the games. The mayor of Shenzhen at the time, Xu Zongheng, sharply criticized the speed and efficiency of Shenzhen's subway construction procedures and calls for reform. Subsequently, the Shenzhen municipal government and various departments signed a liability form, requiring Phase II subway expansion to be completed in time for the Universiade. Shenzhen Metro increased to over a hundred operating metro stations in June 2011, just before the Shenzhen Universiade games. In the span of two weeks, the network expanded from 64 km (40 mi) to 177 km (110 mi). This expansion increased rail transit's share of total public transit trips from 6% to 29% in 2014.

Phase III (2012–2023)

In 2010, the Shenzhen Urban Planning and Land Resources Committee proposed a building program (Phase III) between 2011 and 2020. In 2011 this plan was approved by the NDRC. Phase III formally commenced in May 2011 with an expected cost of 125.6 billion yuan. It will cover Lines 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11 and will extend the length of the Shenzhen Metro to 348 kilometres (216 mi) and 10 lines. In June 2011, the Shenzhen Urban Planning and Land Resources Commission started gather public input on Phase III station names. On June 28, 2016, Line 11 opened being the first subway line in Shenzhen with 8 car trains and 120 km/h (75 mph) maximum service speed and the first in China with a First Class service. Lines 7 and 9 followed on October 28, 2016. South extension of Line 5 opened on 28 September 2019 and west extension of Line 9 opened on 8 December 2019. Line 6 and Line 10 opened on 18 August 2020 bringing the length of the Shenzhen Metro to 382.1 km (237.4 mi) and the fourth longest in China. Second east extension of Line 2, second south extension of Line 3, second north extension of Line 4 and phase 1 of Line 8 opened on 28 October 2020 bringing the length of the Shenzhen Metro to 411 km (255 mi).

Phase IV (2017–2025)

With the shortening of the Phase III implementation period, a number of lines (Lines 16 and 12) planned in 2007's Phase III moved into the next phase. By 2016, it was determined that Phase IV will have an implementation period between 2017 and 2022 and consist of 274 km (170 mi) of new subway. Lines 13 and 14 which originally had a long term 2030 completion deadline were moved into Phase IV expansion. In addition, a branch line of Line 6 will connect with the neighboring Dongguan Rail Transit system. Lines 12, 13, 14, and 16 and branch of Line 6 was approved by the NDRC in July 2017 and started construction in January 2018.

Phase IV revised expansion (2020–2025)

The first phase of Line 20 was fast tracked from Phase IV to provide a shuttle between Line 11 and a new International Convention Center, now called Convention & Exhibition City. The construction started in September 2016, but as for early 2019, the construction is paused because the Development and Reform Commission did not approve the project. The Phase IV revised plan approved by the NDRC on March 26, 2020, approved the first Phase of Line 20 allowing for construction to continue. The line eventually opened on 28 December 2021. Futian to Gangxia North in the first section of Phase 2 of Line 11 opened on 28 October 2022.

 

Phase IV expansion

Phase IV Revised Expansion

The Phase IV revised plan approved by the NDRC on March 26, 2020, added a number of extension projects.

Miscellaneous

Line 5 west extension is part of Phase II expansion.

Phase V (2023-2028)

In the Shenzhen Metro 2007 masterplan proposed four more lines (Lines 13, 14, 15 and 16) which have a planned completion target of 2030. In 2016, all aforementioned lines but Line 15 were designated as part of the Phase IV expansion, moving the completion date forward from 2030 to 2022. In 2012, four further lines Qiannan (Line 17), Pinghu (Line 18), Pingshan (Line 19) and Fuyong (Line 20) where unveiled, making the total planned length of the Shenzhen Metro to 720 km (447 mi) spread out over 20 lines. The first phase of Line 20 was fast-tracked and included in the Phase III revised expansion with a completion date of 2018. This leaves Line 15, 17-19 and the rest of Line 20 available for the next phase (Phase V) of subway expansion. In September 2022, the Shenzhen municipal government confirmed the projects proposed to be included in its phase V expansion. A total of 227 km (141 mi) of new lines are proposed.

On March 31, 2023, the Bureau of Housing and Urban Rural Development of Shenzhen Metro Municipality will open the bidding for the fifth phase planning of Shenzhen Metro Metro, including Line 15, Line 17 Phase I, Line 19 Phase I, Line 20 Phase II (Airport East—Baishizhou), Line 22 Phase I, Line 25 Phase I, Line 27 Phase I, Line 29 Phase I and Line 32 Phase I, This means that these 9 lines have been approved with an investment amount of 191.1 billion yuan. However, Line 18 Phase I, Line 21 Phase I, Line 10 East Extension (Shenzhen Section) and Metro Line 11 North Extension (Shenzhen Section), which were previously proposed to be included in the fifth phase plan of Shenzhen Metro, were not included in this announcement.

In June 2023, the Fifth Phase Construction Plan of Shenzhen Urban Rail Transit (2023-2028) has been approved for a total of 11 construction projects, including Line 15, Line 17 Phase I, Line 19 Phase I, Line 20 Phase II (Airport East—Baishizhou), Line 22 Phase I, Line 25 Phase I, Line 27 Phase I, Line 29 Phase I, Line 32 Phase I, Line 10 East Extension (Shenzhen Section) and Metro Line 11 North Extension (Shenzhen Section). On 28 June 2023, Shenzhen Metro Line 15 started construction, followed by Line 17 Phase I and Line 20 Phase II on 10 October 2023, Line 22 Phase I on 2 January 2024 and Line 25 on 26 February 2024. Other construction projects will start in 2024.