page_title: Transport in China
section_title: Rapid Transit
hierarchical_section_title: Transport in China / Rail / Urban Rail / Rapid Transit
caption_attribution_description: English: 201609 0335 leaves from Baoshan Road Station
context_page_description: Transport in China has experienced major growth and expansion in recent years. Although China's transport system comprises a vast network of transport nodes across its huge territory, the nodes tend to concentrate in the more economically developed coastal areas and inland cities along major rivers. The physical state and comprehensiveness of China's transport infrastructure tend to vary widely by geography. While remote, rural areas still largely depend on non-mechanized means of transport, a modern maglev system was built in China to connect the city center of Shanghai with Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Airports, roads, and railway construction will provide a massive employment boost in China over the next decade.
  Much of contemporary China's transport systems have been built since the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949. The railway, which is the primary mode of long distance transport, has seen rapid growth reaching 120,970 km of railway lines making it the second longest network in the world. Prior to 1950, there were only 21,800 km of railway lines.
context_section_description: Currently there over 30 rapid transit systems in mainland China. A further 12 systems are under construction and 20 more metros are planned. Today China boasts the world's longest, second and third longest metro systems. The Shanghai Metro only started operating in 1993 and has since expanded to be the world's longest subway system. Of the top 15 longest metro systems in the world 8 of them are in China, also possessing half of the top ten busiest metro systems in the world. As of January 2016, 39 cities have metro systems approved according to the National Development and Reform Commission. China plans to spend 4.7 trillion yuan ($706 billion) on transport infrastructure in the three years following 2016. As of early 2017, China has 5636.5 km of under construction rail transit lines.
caption: A Line 3 train arriving at Baoshan Road Station.
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