Cities on the Chinese mainland built a record 968.77 km of urban railway tracks in 2019, according to a report from the China Association of Metros.

At the end of last year, 40 cities had urban rail transit systems in operation, with a total length of 6,730.27 km.

In 2018, urban rail tracks on the Chinese mainland grew by 728.7 km, following a growth of 880 km in 2017, and 534.8 km in 2016. Between 2011 and 2015, the total length of new urban rail operation was 2019 km, with an average of about 400 km added per year. 

In 2019, the growth of nearly one thousand kilometers greatly exceeded the annual increment of the last decade. 

Subways continued to be dominant among all types of urban rail transit. The length of subways reached 5,187.02 km in 2019, accounting for 77.07 percent of the total, while that of intra-city rapid rail transit hit 715.61 km, making up 10.63 percent of the total. Among them, the growth of urban rail transit in 2019 involves three systems, including 832.72 km of metro, 59.11 km of inner-city rapid rail and 76.94 km of modern tram.

The top five cities in terms of metro operation length are Beijing (679.50km), Shanghai (669.50km), Guangzhou (489.40km), Shenzhen (304.35km) and Chengdu (298.18km).

As of December 31 2019, Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Nanjing were the top five cities in terms of the length of urban rail transit, according to the report.

Last year, the National Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planner, approved new subway projects in Zhengzhou, Xi'an and Chengdu with a total investment of 342.58 billion yuan (about 48.9 billion U.S. dollars).

(With input from Xinhua)

Infographics designed by Li Wenyi