Great news! Guangzhou Metro Line 18, which has been under construction since 2017, will be further extended to Zhongshan and Zhuhai, according to Yao Yisheng, an NPC deputy and Zhuhai's mayor during a group discussion of the Guangdong delegation at the third session of the 13th National People's Congress, China's top legislature, in Beijing on May 23rd.

Once the metro line comes into operation, it will cut travel time from the city of Zhongshan to Guangzhou Nansha Free Trade Zone (FTZ) to only 20 minutes, and reduce journey time to Zhujiang New Town to a mere 40 minutes.

How is this possible? Guangzhou Metro Line 18 will reach a whopping 160 kilometers per hour, making it the fastest subway line in the country.

A sketch of Guangzhou Metro Line 18 (Photo: Guangzhou Metro)

Guangzhou Metro Line 18 is designed to connect various districts of Guangzhou and also to connect Guangzhou to the surrounding cities.

Running south to north, from Wanqingsha in Nansha to Guangzhou East Railway Station in Tianhe, Line 18 will pass through the Nansha FTZ, Panyu Square, Pazhou, and Zhujiang New Town. It has room allocated for a northbound extension to the city of Qingyuan.

Southward, the line will run onward to Zhongshan in the form of an intercity railway. Its extension will meet with the Guangzhou-Zhuhai intercity railway at Tsuihang Station, and then enter Zhuhai, according to the government of Nanlang, a town in Zhongshan.

Guangzhou-Zhuhai intercity railway features a station in Tsuihang New District, Zhongshan. (Photo: Southern Metropolis Daily)

Tsuihang Station under construction. (Photo: Southern Metropolis Daily)

Based on the current construction status, Tsuihang Station is expected to be completed at the end of August, be tested in September, and will come into operation before National Day (October 1st). The specific opening time will be jointly decided by its construction unit the Guangdong Guangzhu Intercity Rail Transit Co., Ltd and the Zhongshan government.

Cheng Xuechang, the person in charge of Line 18's Panyu section explained that the pandemic has put the construction one month behind schedule, but the company will still continue construction according to the original plan.

The main structure of Panyu Square Station is currently undergoing construction, and Hengli Station has recently been roofed in.

A construction site of Line 18 in Panyu. (Photo: Fu Chaojun)

Hengli Station (Photo: Guangzhou Metro)

A street level sign of Line 18 Hengli Station. (Photo: Guangzhou Daily)

Cheng added that Guangzhou Metro will strive to open Line 18 next year (2021), but that the schedule is still subject to change due to the pandemic and other factors. The company will make an announcement on the opening in due course.

In addition, Guangzhou Metro announced that it will establish a rail transit operation system entitled 'one network, one ticket, one city cluster' in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. As of now, the nine cities of Guangdong included in the GBA have a current track length of 1,164 km, and a planned total of 6,000 km.

Author | Monica

Editor | Simon