List of metro systems
This list of metro systems includes electrified rapid transit train systems worldwide. In some parts of the world, metro systems are referred to as subways, U-Bahn or undergrounds., 178 cities in 56 countries around the world host the approximately 180 metro systems that are listed here. The London Underground first opened as an "underground railway" in 1863 and its first electrified underground line opened in 1890, making it the world's oldest metro system. The Beijing Subway is the world's busiest and longest metro system, while the New York City Subway has the greatest number of stations.. The country with the most metro systems is China, with 39 operational.
Considerations
The International Association of Public Transport defines metro systems as urban passenger transport systems, "operated on their own right of way and segregated from general road and pedestrian traffic". The terms Heavy rail and heavy urban rail are essentially synonymous with the term "metro". Heavy rail systems are also specifically defined as an "electric railway".The dividing line between metro and other modes of public transport, such as light rail and commuter rail, is not always clear, and while UITP only makes distinctions between "metros" and "light rail", the American Public Transportation Association and Federal Transit Administration distinguish all three modes. A common way to distinguish metro from light rail is by their separation from other traffic. While light rail systems may share roads or have level crossings, a metro system runs, almost always, on a grade-separated exclusive right-of-way, with no access for pedestrians and other traffic. And in contrast to commuter rail or light rail, metro systems are primarily used for transport within a city, and have higher service frequencies and substantially higher passenger volume capacities. Furthermore, most metro systems do not share tracks with freight trains or inter-city rail services. It is however not relevant whether the system runs on steel wheels or rubber tyres, or if the power supply is from a third rail or overhead line.
The name of the system is not a criterion for inclusion or exclusion. Some cities use metro as a brand name for a transit line with no component of rapid transit whatsoever. Similarly, there are systems branded light rail that meet every criterion for being a rapid transit system. Some systems also incorporate light metro or light rail lines as part of the larger system under a common name. These are listed, but the light rail lines are not counted in the provided network data. Certain transit networks may match the service standards of metro systems, but reach far out of the city and are sometimes known as S-Bahn, suburban, regional or commuter rail. These are not included in this list. Neither are funicular systems, or people movers, such as amusement park, ski resort and airport transport systems.
This list counts metros separately when multiple metros in one city or metropolitan area have separate owners or operating companies. This list expressly does not aim at representing the size and scope of the total rapid transit network of a certain city or metropolitan area. The data of this list should not be used to infer the size of a city's, region's, or country's urban rail transit systems, or to establish a ranking.
Legend
; City: Primary city served by the metro system.; Country: Sovereign state in which the metro system is located.
; Name: The most common English name of the metro system.
; Year opened: The year the metro system was opened for commercial service at metro standards. In other words, parts of the system may be older, but as parts of a former light rail or commuter rail network, so the year that the system obtained metro standards is the one listed.
; Year of last expansion: The last time the system length or number of stations in the metro system was expanded.
; Stations: The number of stations in the metro network, with stations connected by transfer counted as one.
; System length:The system length of a metro network is the sum of the lengths of all routes in the rail network in kilometers or miles. Each route is counted only once, regardless of how many lines pass over it, and regardless of whether it is single-track or multi-track, single carriageway or dual carriageway.
; Ridership: The number of unique journeys on the metro system every year. There is a major discrepancy between the ridership figures: some metro systems count transferring between lines as multiple journeys, but others do not.
List
| City | Country | Name | Year opened | Year of last expansion | Stations | System length | Annual ridership |
| Algiers | Algiers Metro | 2011 | 2018 | 19 | 45.3 | ||
| Buenos Aires | Buenos Aires Underground | 1926 | 2019 | 90 | 337.7 | ||
| Yerevan | Yerevan Metro | 1981 | 1996 | 10 | 18.7 | ||
| Sydney | Sydney Metro | 2019 | – | 13 | 14.2 | ||
| Vienna | Vienna U-Bahn | 1976 | 2017 | 98 | 463.1 | ||
| Baku | Baku Metro | 1967 | 2016 | 25 | 231.0 | ||
| Minsk | Minsk Metro | 1984 | 2014 | 29 | 283.4 | ||
| Brussels | Brussels Metro | 1976 | 2009 | 59 | 165.3 | ||
| Belo Horizonte | Belo Horizonte Metro | 1986 | 2002 | 19 | 58.4 | ||
| Brasília | Brasília Metro | 2001 | 2020 | 25 | 42.8 | ||
| Porto Alegre | Porto Alegre Metro | 1985 | 2014 | 22 | 51.7 | ||
| Recife | Recife Metro | 1985 | 2009 | 28 | 93.5 | ||
| Rio de Janeiro | Rio de Janeiro Metro | 1979 | 2016 | 41 | 252.5 | ||
| Salvador | Salvador Metro | 2014 | 2018 | 19 | 113 | ||
| São Paulo | São Paulo Metro | 1974 | 2019 | 89 | 1494.3 | ||
| Sofia | Sofia Metro | 1998 | 2016 | 34 | 93.1 | ||
| Montreal | Montreal Metro | 1966 | 2007 | 68 | 400.3 | ||
| Toronto | Toronto subway | 1954 | 2017 | 75 | 474.5 | ||
| Vancouver | SkyTrain | 1985 | 2016 | 53 | 165.1 | ||
| Santiago | Santiago Metro | 1975 | 2019 | 136 | 703.7 | ||
| Beijing | Beijing Subway | 1971 | 2019 | 326 | 3950.87 | ||
| Changchun | Changchun Subway | 2011 | 2018 | 59 | 213.93 | ||
| Changsha | Changsha Metro | 2014 | 2020 | 100 | 330.32 | ||
| Changzhou | Changzhou Metro | 2019 | – | 29 | 10.32 | ||
| Chengdu | Chengdu Metro | 2010 | 2019 | 216 | 1398.01 | ||
| Chongqing | Chongqing Rail Transit | 2005 | 2019 | 180 | 1038.92 | ||
| Dalian | Dalian Metro | 2003 | 2018 | 69 | 203.94 | ||
| Dongguan | Dongguan Rail Transit | 2016 | – | 15 | 53.64 | ||
| Foshan | Foshan Metro | 2010 | 2018 | 22 | n/a | ||
| Fuzhou | Fuzhou Metro | 2016 | 2019 | 42 | 107.37 | ||
| Guangzhou | Guangzhou Metro | 1997 | 2019 | 266 | 3305.90 | ||
| Guiyang | Guiyang Metro | 2017 | 2018 | 25 | 50.64 | ||
| Hangzhou | Hangzhou Metro | 2012 | 2020 | 119 | 634.03 | ||
| Harbin | Harbin Metro | 2013 | 2019 | 25 | 103.22 | ||
| Hefei | Hefei Metro | 2016 | 2019 | 77 | 179.82 | ||
| Hohhot | Hohhot Metro | 2019 | – | 20 | 0.2 | ||
| Hong Kong | Mass Transit Railway | 1979 | 2020 | 98 | 1805.1 | ||
| Jinan | Jinan Metro | 2019 | – | 23 | 5.75 | ||
| Kunming | Kunming Rail Transit | 2012 | 2017 | 60 | 214.09 | ||
| Lanzhou | Lanzhou Metro | 2019 | – | 20 | 32.43 | ||
| Macau | Macau Light Rapid Transit | 2019 | – | 11 | n/a | ||
| Nanchang | Nanchang Metro | 2015 | 2019 | 52 | 174.94 | ||
| Nanjing | Nanjing Metro | 2005 | 2018 | 159 | 1151.89 | ||
| Nanning | Nanning Rail Transit | 2016 | 2019 | 65 | 273.25 | ||
| Ningbo | Ningbo Rail Transit | 2014 | 2020 | 69 | 167.22 | ||
| Qingdao | Qingdao Metro | 2015 | 2018 | 80 | 187.51 | ||
| Shanghai | Shanghai Metro | 1993 | 2018 | 345 | 3880.06 | ||
| Shenyang | Shenyang Metro | 2010 | 2020 | 84 | 258.58 | ||
| Shenzhen | Shenzhen Metro | 2004 | 2019 | 215 | 2017.6 | ||
| Shijiazhuang | Shijiazhuang Metro | 2017 | 2020 | 36 | 95.66 | ||
| Suzhou | Suzhou Rail Transit | 2012 | 2019 | 131 | 363.04 | ||
| Tianjin | Tianjin Metro | 1984 | 2019 | 145 | 523.47 | ||
| Ürümqi | Ürümqi Metro | 2018 | 2019 | 21 | 25.57 | ||
| Wenzhou | Wenzhou Metro | 2019 | 2019 | 18 | 7.75 | ||
| Wuhan | Wuhan Metro | 2004 | 2019 | 201 | 1222.55 | ||
| Wuxi | Wuxi Metro | 2014 | 2019 | 48 | 109.5 | ||
| Xiamen | Xiamen Metro | 2017 | 2019 | 52 | 58.03 | ||
| Xi'an | Xi'an Metro | 2011 | 2019 | 100 | 945.41 | ||
| Xuzhou | Xuzhou Metro | 2019 | – | 18 | 7.5 | ||
| Zhengzhou | Zhengzhou Metro | 2013 | 2019 | 97 | 411.2 | ||
| Medellín | Medellín Metro | 1995 | 2012 | 27 | 228.3 | ||
| Prague | Prague Metro | 1974 | 2015 | 58 | 430.9 | ||
| Copenhagen | Copenhagen Metro | 2002 | 2020 | 39 | 78.8 | ||
| Santo Domingo | Santo Domingo Metro | 2009 | 2018 | 34 | 101.4 | ||
| Cairo | Cairo Metro | 1987 | 2019 | 65 | 1314 | ||
| Helsinki | Helsinki Metro | 1982 | 2017 | 25 | 67.5 | ||
| Lille | Lille Metro | 1983 | 2000 | 60 | 119.9 | ||
| Lyon | Lyon Metro | 1978 | 2013 | 40 | 212.4 | ||
| Marseille | Marseille Metro | 1977 | 2019 | 29 | 76.2 | ||
| Paris | Paris Métro | 1900 | 2013 | 302 | 1559.5 | ||
| Rennes | Rennes Metro | 2002 | – | 15 | 35.2 | ||
| Toulouse | Toulouse Metro | 1993 | 2007 | 37 | 110.3 | ||
| Tbilisi | Tbilisi Metro | 1966 | 2017 | 23 | 125.7 | ||
| Berlin | Berlin U-Bahn | 1902 | 2009 | 173 | 596 | ||
| Hamburg | Hamburg U-Bahn | 1912 | 2018 | 92 | 251.0 | ||
| Munich | Munich U-Bahn | 1971 | 2010 | 96 | 413 | ||
| Nuremberg | Nuremberg U-Bahn | 1972 | 2017 | 48 | 122.2 | ||
| Athens | Athens Metro | 1904 | 2020 | 64 | 259.2 | ||
| Budapest | Budapest Metro | 1896 | 2014 | 48 | 354.0 | ||
| Ahmedabad | Ahmedabad Metro | 2019 | – | 6 | n/a | ||
| Bengaluru | Namma Metro | 2011 | 2017 | 40 | 133.7 | ||
| Chennai | Chennai Metro | 2015 | 2019 | 32 | 32.8 | ||
| Delhi | Delhi Metro | 2002 | 2019 | 229 | 926.1 | ||
| Gurgaon | Rapid Metro | 2013 | 2017 | 11 | 18.3 | ||
| Hyderabad | Hyderabad Metro | 2017 | 2020 | 56 | 30 | ||
| Jaipur | Jaipur Metro | 2015 | – | 9 | 6.2 | ||
| Kochi | Kochi Metro | 2017 | 2019 | 21 | 16.6 | ||
| Kolkata | Kolkata Metro | 1984 | 2020 | 30 | 213.3 | ||
| Lucknow | Lucknow Metro | 2017 | 2019 | 21 | n/a | ||
| Mumbai | Mumbai Metro | 2014 | – | 12 | 100~ | ||
| Nagpur | Nagpur Metro | 2019 | 2020 | 11 | n/a | ||
| Noida | Noida Metro | 2019 | – | 21 | n/a | ||
| Jakarta | Jakarta Mass Rapid Transit | 2019 | – | 13 | 24.6 | ||
| Isfahan | Isfahan Urban Railway | 2015 | 2018 | 20 | n/a | ||
| Mashhad | Mashhad Urban Railway | 2011 | 2019 | 35 | 44.4 | ||
| Shiraz | Shiraz Metro | 2014 | 2018 | 19 | 18 | ||
| Tabriz | Tabriz Metro | 2015 | 2017 | 10 | n/a | ||
| Tehran | Tehran Metro | 1999 | 2019 | 114 | 820 | ||
| Brescia | Brescia Metro | 2013 | – | 17 | 18.7 | ||
| Catania | Catania Metro | 1999 | 2017 | 10 | 5.8 | ||
| Genoa | Genoa Metro | 1990 | 2012 | 8 | 15.3 | ||
| Milan | Milan Metro | 1964 | 2015 | 106 | 369 | ||
| Naples | Naples Metro | 1993 | 2015 | 22 | 41.0 | ||
| Rome | Rome Metro | 1955 | 2018 | 73 | 320 | ||
| Turin | Turin Metro | 2006 | 2011 | 21 | 42.5 | ||
| Fukuoka | Fukuoka City Subway | 1981 | 2005 | 35 | 171.6 | ||
| Hiroshima | Astram Line | 1994 | 2015 | 21 | 23.9 | ||
| Kobe | Kobe Municipal Subway | 1977 | 2001 | 25 | 114.5 | ||
| Kyoto | Kyoto Municipal Subway | 1981 | 2008 | 31 | 144.7 | ||
| Nagoya | Nagoya Municipal Subway | 1957 | 2011 | 87 | 487.6 | ||
| Osaka | Osaka Metro | 1933 | 2006 | 100 | 870.4 | ||
| Sapporo | Sapporo Municipal Subway | 1971 | 1999 | 46 | 229.7 | ||
| Sendai | Sendai Subway | 1987 | 2015 | 29 | 90.9 | ||
| Tokyo | Toei Subway | 1960 | 2002 | 99 | 1170.5 | ||
| Tokyo | Tokyo Metro | 1927 | 2020 | 142 | 2766.2 | ||
| Tokyo | Rinkai Line | 1996 | 2002 | 8 | 95.9 | ||
| Yokohama | Yokohama Municipal Subway | 1972 | 2008 | 40 | 244.5 | ||
| Yokohama | Minatomirai Line | 2004 | 2008 | 6 | 79.2 | ||
| Almaty | Almaty Metro | 2011 | 2015 | 9 | 16.3 | ||
| Pyongyang | Pyongyang Metro | 1973 | 1987 | 17 | 36 | ||
| Busan | Busan Metro | 1985 | 2017 | 135 | 354 | ||
| Daegu | Daegu Metro | 1997 | 2015 | 58 | 163 | ||
| Daejeon | Daejeon Metro | 2006 | 2007 | 22 | 40 | ||
| Gwangju | Gwangju Metro | 2004 | 2008 | 20 | 19 | ||
| Incheon | Incheon Subway | 1999 | 2016 | 55 | 112 | ||
| Seoul | Seoul Subway | 1974 | 2019 | 331 | 2855.6 | ||
| Seoul | Korail metro lines | 1994 | 2016 | 81 | 415.6 | ||
| Seoul | Shinbundang Line | 2011 | 2016 | 12 | 95.7 | ||
| Kuala Lumpur | Rapid Rail | 1996 | 2017 | 104 | 223.8 | ||
| Mexico City | Mexico City Metro | 1969 | 2012 | 163 | 1655.4 | ||
| Monterrey | Monterrey Metro | 1991 | 2008 | 31 | 186.8 | ||
| Amsterdam | Amsterdam Metro | 1977 | 2018 | 39 | 111.3 | ||
| Rotterdam | Rotterdam Metro | 1968 | 2019 | 70 | 99 | ||
| Oslo | Oslo Metro | 1966 | 2016 | 101 | 119 | ||
| Panama City | Panama Metro | 2014 | 2019 | 29 | 85.7 | ||
| Lima | Lima Metro | 2011 | 2014 | 26 | 110.4 | ||
| Manila | Manila Light Rail Transit System | 1984 | 2010 | 31 | 230.0 | ||
| Manila | Manila Metro Rail Transit System | 1999 | 2000 | 13 | 96.9 | ||
| Warsaw | Warsaw Metro | 1995 | 2020 | 33 | 189.6 | ||
| Lisbon | Lisbon Metro | 1959 | 2016 | 56 | 173 | ||
| Doha | Doha Metro | 2019 | 2019 | 36 | n/a | ||
| Bucharest | Bucharest Metro | 1979 | 2017 | 53 | 179.7 | ||
| Kazan | Kazan Metro | 2005 | 2018 | 11 | 29.0 | ||
| Moscow | Moscow Metro | 1935 | 2020 | 238 | 2560.7 | ||
| Nizhny Novgorod | Nizhny Novgorod Metro | 1985 | 2018 | 15 | 29.6 | ||
| Novosibirsk | Novosibirsk Metro | 1986 | 2010 | 13 | 83.1 | ||
| Saint Petersburg | Saint Petersburg Metro | 1955 | 2019 | 72 | 743.0 | ||
| Samara | Samara Metro | 1987 | 2015 | 10 | 13.8 | ||
| Yekaterinburg | Yekaterinburg Metro | 1991 | 2012 | 9 | 48.4 | ||
| Singapore | Mass Rapid Transit | 1987 | 2020 | 122 | 1235.2 | ||
| Barcelona | Barcelona Metro | 1924 | 2020 | 133 | 411.9 | ||
| Bilbao | Metro Bilbao | 1995 | 2014 | 41 | 91.6 | ||
| Madrid | Madrid Metro | 1919 | 2019 | 242 | 677.5 | ||
| Seville | Seville Metro | 2009 | - | 22 | 16.9 | ||
| Stockholm | Stockholm Metro | 1950 | 1994 | 100 | 355 | ||
| Lausanne | Lausanne Metro | 2008 | – | 14 | 32.8 | ||
| Kaohsiung | Kaohsiung Rapid Transit | 2008 | 2012 | 37 | 65.4 | ||
| Taipei | Taipei Metro | 1996 | 2020 | 119 | 789.6 | ||
| Taoyuan | Taoyuan Metro | 2017 | – | 22 | 28.0 | ||
| Bangkok | BTS Skytrain | 1999 | 2020 | 52 | 247.6 | ||
| Bangkok | Metropolitan Rapid Transit | 2004 | 2019 | 53 | 123.0 | ||
| Adana | Adana Metro | 2009 | 2010 | 13 | 14 | ||
| Ankara | Ankara Metro | 1997 | 2017 | 56 | 135.7 | ||
| Bursa | Bursaray | 2002 | 2014 | 38 | 91.3 | ||
| Istanbul | Istanbul Metro | 1989 | 2018 | 89 | 495.4 | ||
| İzmir | İzmir Metro | 2000 | 2014 | 17 | 100 | ||
| Dnipro | Dnipro Metro | 1995 | – | 6 | 7.5 | ||
| Kharkiv | Kharkiv Metro | 1975 | 2016 | 30 | 212.8 | ||
| Kiev | Kiev Metro | 1960 | 2013 | 52 | 496.1 | ||
| Dubai | Dubai Metro | 2009 | 2014 | 47 | 203.0 | ||
| Glasgow | Glasgow Subway | 1896 | – | 15 | 13.1 | ||
| London | London Underground | 1890 | 2008 | 270 | 1384 | ||
| London | Docklands Light Railway | 1987 | 2011 | 45 | 121.8 | ||
| Newcastle | Tyne and Wear Metro | 1980 | 2008 | 60 | 36.4 | ||
| Atlanta | MARTA | 1979 | 2000 | 38 | 64.0 | ||
| Baltimore | Baltimore Metro Subway | 1983 | 1995 | 14 | 7.3 | ||
| Boston | MBTA subway | 1901 | 2014 | 51 | 152.3 | ||
| Chicago | Chicago "L" | 1895 | 2015 | 145 | 218.5 | ||
| Cleveland | RTA Rapid Transit: Red Line | 1955 | 1968 | 18 | 6.0 | ||
| Los Angeles | Metro Rail | 1993 | 2000 | 16 | 41.8 | ||
| Miami | Metrorail | 1984 | 2012 | 23 | 18.1 | ||
| New York City | New York City Subway | 1904 | 2017 | 424 | 1697.8 | ||
| New York City | Staten Island Railway | 1925 | 2017 | 21 | 7.7 | ||
| New York City | PATH | 1908 | 1937 | 13 | 90.3 | ||
| Philadelphia | SEPTA | 1907 | 1973 | 75 | 90.2 | ||
| Philadelphia | PATCO Speedline | 1936 | 1980 | 13 | 11.1 | ||
| San Francisco | BART | 1972 | 2020 | 47 | 123.5 | ||
| San Juan | Tren Urbano | 2004 | 2005 | 16 | 5.2 | ||
| Washington, D.C. | Washington Metro | 1976 | 2014 | 91 | 237.7 | ||
| Tashkent | Tashkent Metro | 1977 | 2001 | 29 | 69.1 | ||
| Caracas | Caracas Metro | 1983 | 2015 | 52 | 358 |
; Table notes
Indicates ridership figures based on the fiscal year rather than the calendar year.
Under construction
The following is a list of new worldwide metro systems that are currently actively under construction. Note that in some cases it is not clear if the system will be considered a full metro system once it begins operational service. Only metro systems under construction are listed where there is no metro systems currently in operation in the same city.The countries of Bangladesh, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Pakistan, and Vietnam are currently constructing their first ever metro systems.
| City | Country | Name | Start of construction | Planned opening |
| Dhaka | Dhaka Metro | 2016 | 2021 | |
| Bengbu | Bengbu Metro | 2018 | 2023 | |
| Jinhua | 2016 | 2020 | ||
| Luoyang | Luoyang Metro | 2017 | 2021 | |
| Nantong | Nantong Metro | 2017 | 2022 | |
| Shaoxing | Shaoxing Metro | 2017 | 2021 | |
| Taiyuan | Taiyuan Metro | 2013 | 2020 | |
| Wuhu | Wuhu Metro | 2016 | 2020 | |
| Quito | Quito Metro | 2012 | 2020 | |
| Thessaloniki | Thessaloniki Metro | 2006 | 2023 | |
| Bhopal | Bhopal Metro | 2018 | 2023 | |
| Agra | Agra Metro | 2020 | 2025 | |
| Indore | Indore Metro | 2018 | 2023 | |
| Kanpur | Kanpur Metro | 2019 | 2024 | |
| Navi Mumbai | Navi Mumbai Metro | 2011 | 2020 | |
| Patna | Patna Metro | 2020 | 2024 | |
| Pune | Pune Metro | 2017 | 2021 | |
| Ahvaz | Ahvaz Metro | 2004 | unknown | |
| Karaj | 2006 | 2020 | ||
| Kermanshah | 2011 | 2022 | ||
| Qom | Qom Metro | 2009 | 2020 | |
| Abidjan | Abidjan Metro | 2017 | 2022/2023 | |
| Lagos | Lagos Rail Mass Transit | 2009 | 2021 | |
| Lahore | Lahore Metro | 2015 | 2020 | |
| Chelyabinsk | Chelyabinsk Metro | 1992 | unknown | |
| Riyadh | Riyadh Metro | 2014 | 2020 | |
| Taichung | Taichung Metro | 2009 | 2020 | |
| Gebze | Gebze Metro | 2018 | 2023 | |
| Honolulu | Honolulu Rail Transit | 2012 | 2021 | |
| Hanoi | Hanoi Metro | 2010 | unknown | |
| Ho Chi Minh City | Ho Chi Minh City Metro | 2010 | 2021 |