Guangzhou Metro

The Guangzhou Metro or GZMTR is the metro system of the city of Guangzhou in Guangdong Province of China. The system is operated by the state-owned Guangzhou Metro Corporation and it was the fourth metro system to be introduced in Mainland China, after that of Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai. The city has 10 million inhabitants and is situated in the south of the country near Hong Kong. Construction of a subway network was approved in 1989 and was started in 1993.Construction began in 1993 and the first line opened in 1997. Currently, there are 5 lines in operation with 88 stations over 150 km of tracks. The Guangzhou Metro delivered 601 million rides in 2008 and set a record of 2.47 million rides on May 1, 2008. The metro system has 3 lines under construction with 4 more planned. Total operational capacity is scheduled to grow to 190.8 km by 2010 and exceed 600 km in the long term.
Guangzhou’s metro system boasts of convenience, fast and cheap. It is the most convenience way to get through the city’s heavey trafic. It is very easy to buy tickets of metro as well. (Tickets and fares) .

Line 1The Line 1 is made up of 16 stations. It is a very important vehicle to go to Guangzhou East Railway Station. (18.5 km). Apart from Kengkou and Xilang, all stations in Line 1 are underground.
June 28, 1997: Xilang – Huangsha
June 28, 1999: Huangsha – Guangzhou East Railway Station

Line 2:(New Line 2: JiaheWangJiang-Guangzhou South Railway Station)
There are 24 stations along the Subway Line 2. JiaheWangJian to Guangzhou South Railway Station. All stations in Line 2 are underground.
If you are a businesses man who going to join the canton fair ,I want to recommend you by metro in Guangzhou .Because it is definitely a fast way to get to both Canton Fair Pazhou Complex and Liuhua Complex by Metro Line 2 directly, especially during the peak hours. The Station Name of Canton Fair Pazhou Complex is “Pazhou” (Line 2), the Station Name of Canton Fair Liuhua Complex is “Yuexiu Park” (Line 2).
December 29, 2002: Sanyuanli – Xiaogang
June 28, 2003: Xiaogang – Pazhou (Part of Line 8: 1st Phrase)
December 26, 2005: Pazhou – Wanshengwei (Part of Line 8: 2nd Phrase)

Line 3:The Line 3 is formed with one north-south-ward main rail and a northeastward branch. On the main rail, there are 13 stations and its branch includes 5 stations.It is a 36-kilometer Y-shaped line connecting Guangzhou East Railway Station (Line 1) and Tianhe Coach Terminal to Panyu Square. All stations in the line are underground. It will in the future also be extended to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport.
December 26, 2005: Guangzhou East Railway Station – Kecun
December 30, 2006: Kecun – Panyu Square
December 30, 2006: Tianhe Coach Terminal – Tiyu Xilu

Line 4:Starting from Chebeinan in the north to Jinzhou in the south, Line 4 boasts 16 stations in total, two of which are under construction – Guanqiao and Qingsheng stations. It will eventually run from the Guangzhou Science Town to Nansha. It currently starts at Wanshengwei (formerly Pazhouta), the interchange with Line 2. The total length is 68.96 km (as at November 2007 in operation). The section of the line from Wanshengwei to Xinzao are built at underground, while that from Xinzao to Jinzhou are built at elevated track.
December 26, 2005: Wanshengwei – Xinzao
December 30, 2006: Xinzao – Huangge (except Guanqiao, Qingsheng)
June 28, 2007: Huangge – Jinzhou
December 28, 2009: Chebeinan – Wanshengwei

Line 5:The Line 5 is an artery connecting the eastern and western Guangzhou and passing Guangzhou Railway Station. It takes about 1 hours to run through the 24 stations. It was starts at Jiaokou and runs to Wenchong in the Huangpu District. It was completed in 2009 with stations at Jiaokou, Tanwei (connection with Line 6), Zhongshanba Lu, Xichang, Xicun, Guangzhou Railway Station (Connection with Line 2), Xiaobei, Taojin, Ouzhuang (Connection with Line 6), Zoo, Yangji (Connection with Line 1), Wuyangcun, Zhujiang New Town (Connection with Line 3), Liede, Tancun, Yuancun, Keyun Lu, Chebeinan (Connection with Line 4), Dongpu, Sanxi, Yuzhu, Dashadi, Dashadong and Wenchong.
The metro trains use Chinese mandarin, Cantonese and English to report station names. It is very helpful for the English-speaking passengers. Metro trains arrive at stations every about 3 minutes during the peak hour and every about 7 minutes after 21:00.It is very efficient and convenient to the major areas of Guangzhou City by Metro. Line 1, Line and line 5 run through the most area of Guangzhou city.

Line 8The first section of Line 8 opened on 2002 as part of Line 2. The Xiaogang Station – Wanshengwei Station section transferred operations beginning 25 September 2010 to Line 8. Line 8 currently runs from Changgang Station to Wanshengwei Station; it was originally intended to terminate at Fenghuang Xincun Station but due to issues with the cooling station at Shayuan Station, the section from Fenghuang Xincun to Baogang Avenue Station remains unopened. Current interchange stations along the line are Changgang with Line 2, Kecun with Line 3 and Wanshengwei with Line 4. Ambitious plans intend for Line 8 to cross the Pearl River by 2012, reaching Culture Park. And in 2015-2020 time frame, it is expected to extend to Baiyun Lake in the north and Hualong in the east.