Shanghai Metro


The Shanghai Metro is a rapid transit system in Shanghai, operating urban and suburban transit services to 14 of its 16 municipal districts and to Huaqiao Town, Kunshan, Jiangsu Province. Opening in 1993 with full-scale construction extending back to 1986, the Shanghai Metro is the third-oldest rapid transit system in mainland China, after the Beijing Subway and the Tianjin Metro. It has seen substantial growth, significantly during the years leading up to the Expo 2010, and is still expanding quickly, with its most recent expansions having opened in December 2018. It is the biggest component of the Shanghai metropolitan rail transit network, together with the Shanghai maglev train, the Zhangjiang Tram, the Songjiang Tram and the China Railway-operated commuter rail services to Jinshan. The metro system is also integrated with other forms of public transport in Shanghai.
The Shanghai Metro system is the world's second biggest metro system by route length after the Beijing Subway, totaling. It is also the second biggest by the number of stations with 413 stations on 16 lines. It ranks second in the world by annual ridership with 3.71 billion rides delivered in 2018. The daily ridership record was set at 13.29 million on March 8, 2019. Over 10 million people use the system on an average workday.
On 16 October 2013, with the extension of Line 11 into Kunshan in Jiangsu province, Shanghai Metro became the first rapid transit system in China to provide cross-provincial service and the second intercity metro after the Guangfo Metro. Further plans to connect the Shanghai Metro with the metro system of Suzhou are under active review, with the first line connecting Shanghai Metro Line 11 and Suzhou Metro Line 3 under construction and projected to be completed by 2024. Ambitious expansion plans call for 25 lines with over of length by 2025. By then, every location in the central area of Shanghai will be within of a subway station.

History

There are currently 16 lines in operation, with Lines and services are denoted numerically as well as by characteristic colors, which are used as a visual aid for better distinction on station signage and on the exterior of trains, in the form of a colored block or belt.
Most tracks in the Shanghai Metro system are served by a single service; thus "Line X" usually refers both to the physical line and its service. The only exception is the segment shared by Lines 3 and 4, between Hongqiao Road station and Baoshan Road station, where both services use the same tracks and platforms.

Services

Partial service patterns

Partial service patterns exist on Lines 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12 and 17. Partial services serve only a sub-segment of the entire physical line. In addition, Line 2 had a piecewise service pattern during morning peak hours whereby the suburban segment between Guanglan Road station and Pudong International Airport station is partially served by a 4-car fleet in addition to the regular 8-car fleet serving the whole line before April 19, 2019.
Since 28 December 2018, during off-peak times, an 8-car fleet from East Xujing or Songhong Road station may terminate at Pudong International Airport station, but most trains still terminate at Guanglan Road station or Tangzhen. 8-car train started serving the whole line in a regular schedule from April 19, 2019.
Partial services make it easier to find seats on the metro in rush hours. As an example, every second east-bound train on line 12 passing Caobao Road station is much more empty because it departed from Hongmei Road station.
Line 12 has a partial service between Hongmei Road and Jufeng Road.
Line 11, one of the three branch lines of the metro system, operates a different partial service pattern. Trains travelling to and from the branch line terminate at Huaqiao Station and Sanlin respectively. Hence, a passenger who wants to travel from the terminus of the branch to the eastern terminus of the line, at Disney Resort must change trains.
Line 17, which opened in December 2017, operates a partial service pattern from to during rush hours in addition to the full service to.

Line 16

Line 16, unlike the rest of the system, is built with passing loops and operates a rush-hour express service. The service was postponed on January 30, 2014, due to lack of available trains, but resumed on March 21, 2016.

Announcements

All trains in the Shanghai Metro display destinations in Simplified Chinese and English, and make announcements in Standard Mandarin, English, and Shanghainese in order to indicate next stations, directions, and partial/full-length service patterns.

Operating hours

The operating hours for most Shanghai metro stations starts between 5:00 to 6:00 in the morning and ends between 22:30 to 23:00 CST. In February 2017 announced that by April 1, 2017, the operating hours of Line 1, 2, and 7 to 10 will be extended by an hour after the regular last train on each Friday, Saturday and last working days before Chinese Public Holidays. This will be extended to Lines 3, 4, 6, and 11 to 13 by July 1, 2017. By the end of 2018, all the stations in the city center will extend their operating hours after midnight. Also, there will be two trains taking passengers from Hongqiao Railway Station after normal operation time and only stop at several stations, which always happens on the last day of a vacation, e.g. Labor Day, National Day, etc.

Stations

Transfer stations

There are two types of transfer stations: physical transfer stations and transit-card only ones. In a physical transfer station, passengers can transfer between subway lines without exiting a fare zone. In a transit-card only transfer station, however, passengers have to exit and re-enter fare zones as they transfer from one subway line to another. In order to receive a discounted fare, passengers must use a Shanghai public transport card instead of Single-Ride tickets.
LinesStation
Hongqiao Railway Station
Shanghai Railway Station
Shanghai South Railway Station
Xinzhuang

A transit-card only transfer station is a station where two lines meet, but unlike a physical interchange, there is no direct pathway between them within the paid fare area. Passengers wishing to interchange must exit the paid fare area for the first line, walk a short distance on the street, and re-enter the paid fare area for the second line. Since June 1, 2008, passengers interchanging using a Shanghai public transport card have their trip regarded as one journey and the distance will be accumulated for fare calculation. Passengers must exit a station and re-enter another within 30 minutes using the same Shanghai public transport card. Those using single-ride tickets cannot use virtual transfers and must purchase a new ticket.
In some cases, virtual interchanges in place during a period of construction were superseded by physical interchanges at the completion of the construction. For example, Hongkou Football Stadium station was previously a virtual interchange between Line 3 and Line 8. Another previously virtual interchange was South Shaanxi Road station between Line 1 and Line 10; after the opening of an extension of line 12 to the station in December 2015 transfers among all three lines became a physical interchange.
The current virtual interchanges are:
The busiest station in Shanghai Metro system is People's Square. As the interchange station for three lines, it is extremely crowded during peak hours. It remains busy during the rest of the day as it is located near major shopping and tourist destinations such as East Nanjing Road, a pedestrian street, as well as the Shanghai Museum, People's Park, the Shanghai Grand Theatre and Yan'an Park on People's Square. It has the second largest number of exits in the stations of the metro system.
Xujiahui is located in the major Xujiahui commercial center of Shanghai. Six large shopping malls and eight large office towers are each within a three-minute walk of one of the station's exits, numbering a total of 18 since the addition of the four in the Line 9 part of the station that opened in December 2009. This is the largest number of exits of all the stations on the system. This station is also widely used as a pedestrian tunnel across the wide roads.
Lujiazui is the major station in Pudong area. It is situated in the heart of Lujiazui financial district, the financial center of Shanghai. The city's iconic landmarks, the Oriental Pearl TV Tower, Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai Tower and Shanghai World Financial Centre are all within walking distance of the station. In contrast to Xujiahui and People's Square, Lujiazui is not particularly busy during off-peak hours or on weekends as it is located in financial district of Shanghai. Line 14, expected to open in 2020, will pass Lujiazui and provide transfer as well.
Shanghai Railway Station is a major transportation hub in Shanghai, containing the railway station, two subway lines and the stop for many city bus lines as well as interprovincial buses. These bus lines will soon be housed in a brand-new bus station. The line 1 platform is in the South square while platforms for line 3/4 are in the North square. These two platforms are technically separate stations, so interchange is only possible between lines 3/4. A transfer to the line 1 platform requires a SPTC or a new ticket.
Shanghai South Railway Station is a transport station for line 1 and line 3; and the maintenance base of line 1 is also located at Shanghai South Railway Station.
Zhongshan Park is a heavily trafficked station due to the large shopping malls and hotel immediately above it.
Century Avenue is the largest interchange station in the Shanghai Metro system, and the first station in mainland China to offer an interchange between four metro or subway lines.
Pudong International Airport is the eastern terminus of Line 2. It serves the airport of the same name in Shanghai. The station also provides a transfer with the Shanghai maglev train to Longyang Road.
Hongqiao Railway Station, Hongqiao Airport Terminal 1 and Hongqiao Airport Terminal 2 are metro stations located in the Hongqiao transportation hub, composed of the Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport and Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station. Both Hongqiao Airport stations are directly linked with the airport, offering many domestic and limited international flights, and the Hongqiao Railway metro station is directly linked with the train station. The airport and railway stations themselves offer a zero-distance transfer.

Ticket system

Like many other metro systems in the world uses a distance-based fare system. The system uses a "one-ticket network", which means that interchanging is possible between all interchange stations, given that the transfer staying within the Shanghai Metro system, without the purchase of another ticket where available, excluding some stations where transferring to another line at said station requires leaving the Fare Zone which mandates a Single-Journey Ticket be used before entering that of another line, requiring the purchase of another Single-Journey Ticket. The Shanghai Public Transport Card, which allows access to most public transport in Shanghai under one card, is another form of payment.

Fares

Distance Fare
0-63
6-164
16-265
26-366
36-467
46-568
56-669
66-7610
76-8611
86-9612
96-10613
106-11614
116-12615

Single-Journey tickets can be purchased from ticket vending machines, and at some stations, at a ticket window. Single-ride tickets are embedded with RFID contactless chips. When entering the system riders tap the ticket against a scanner above the turnstile, and when they exit they insert the ticket into a slot where it is stored and recycled.

Shanghai Public Transportation Card

In addition to a Single-Ride ticket, the fare can be paid using a Shanghai public transport card, which is similar to the Octopus card of Hong Kong's MTR. This RFID-embedded card can be purchased at selected banks, convenience stores and metro stations with a 20-yuan deposit. This card can be loaded at ticket booths, Service Centers at the metro stations as well as many small convenience stores and banks throughout the city. The Shanghai Public Transportation Card can also be used to pay for other forms of transportation, such as taxi or bus.

One-day pass

A one-day pass was introduced for the Expo 2010 held in Shanghai. The fare for the calendar day was set at 18 yuan, for unlimited travel within the metro system. This is not available through vending machines, but has to be purchased at Service Centers at metro stations.

Three-day pass

A three-day pass is available for Shanghai Metro. The fare for three days was set at 45 yuan, for unlimited travel within the metro system. This pass is not available through vending machines, but has to be purchased at Service Centers at metro stations.

Infrastructure

Gauge

is used throughout the network, allowing new train equipment to be transported over the Chinese rail network which uses the same gauge.

Stations

Almost all stations, except most of the elevated sections and sections of Line 2 from Songhong Road to Longyang Road, have platform screen doors with sliding acrylic glass at the platform edge. The train stops with its doors lined-up with the sliding doors on the platform edge and open when the train doors open, and are closed at other times. These screens are also being retrofitted on existing lines, starting with Line 1 whose core stations had doors by the end of 2006. On part of Line 2 and most of the elevated sections, the platform has sliding safety doors that reach only halfway up from the ground called Automatic platform gates.

Rolling stock

There are currently over 5000 revenue railcars in the Shanghai metro system. The 5000th car was delivered on July 20, 2018. It is expected that the 7000th metro car will be received in 2020. Train sets used in the system include:
Train sets to be used in the future include:
Most lines currently use 6 car sets, with the exceptions being:
Shanghai Metro lines 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 are equipped with CBTC systems capable of headways as low as 90 seconds.

Power supply

In contrast to many other metro systems in the world, the Shanghai Metro uses overhead wires for the power supply, except for Line 16, Line 17 and Pujiang Line which use third rail.
On Line 2, Siemens Transportation Systems equipped the line with an overhead contact line and 7 DC traction power supply substations.

Passenger information systems

Plasma screens on the platforms show passengers when the next two trains are coming, along with advertisements and public service announcements. The subway cars contain LCD screens showing advertisements and on some lines, the next stop, while above-ground trains have LED screens showing the next stop. The LED screens are being phased in on Line 1 and are also included in lines 7 and 9, two underground lines. There are recorded messages stating the next stop in Mandarin, English, and Shanghainese, but the messages stating nearby attractions or shops for a given station are in Mandarin only. The metro operating company is resistant to expanding use of Shanghainese for announcing stops, on the basis that, on most lines, the majority of passengers can understand either Mandarin or English.
Station signs are in Simplified Chinese and English. The Metro authority is testing a new systematic numbering system for stations on Line 10.

Future expansion

The Shanghai Metro system is one of the fastest-growing metro systems in the world. As of 2019, Shanghai has more than of metro under construction. By the end of 2020, the network will comprise 19 lines spanning. In addition, there are plans to connect the Shanghai Metro with the Suzhou Rail Transit in neighbouring Jiangsu province.
lines

Incidents