In 2010 Chengdu had no metro. By end-2025 it had 721 km across 17 lines and 489 stations — the fourth-longest system in the world — carrying 2.26 billion trips a year. December 2025 added fully automated Lines 13 and 30, the latter tunneled beneath Shuangliu airport's active apron.
The Chengdu Metro opened Line 1 in September 2010. The December 2020 wave (Lines 6, 8, 9, 17) made it the world's fourth-longest system; the 2024–2025 wave — Line 27, the Line 8 extension, Line 10 phase 3, Line 17 phase 2, then Lines 13 and 30 on 16 December 2025 — took it past 720 km.
Ridership is catching up with the buildout: 2.26 billion trips in 2025, and daily averages above 6.15 million after the December openings, with 80 interchange stations knitting the grid. The network now reaches both airports (Lines 10, 18, 19, 30), all four main railway stations, and satellite cities as far as Ziyang (Line S3).
Line 13 (29.1 km, Wayaotan–Long'an) runs east–west through the dense city core. Line 30 (28 km) links Shuangliu airport's Terminal 2 East to Longquanyi — fully automated GoA4, 36 six-car trains, and an engineering first: twin tunnels bored beneath an apron handling up to 1,000 flights a day, monitored by thousands of ground sensors.
Automation is the through-line: Lines 9, 13, 27 and 30 are driverless, and the new stock (Type A eight-car sets on the busiest routes) holds 3,456 passengers at crush load — capacity engineered for a 21-million-person metropolis.
Chengdu's rail hub role extends far beyond the metro: Chengdu East is among China's busiest high-speed stations (Xi'an in ~3 hours, Chongqing in ~1, Beijing in under 8), Chengdu South anchors the airport express, and the new Tianfu Station ties the airport city into the national grid.
For travelers: the metro is QR-payable, bilingual and cheap from ¥2; the panda base (Line 3 to Panda Avenue, then shuttle), Kuanzhai alleys (Line 4) and Wuhou Shrine (Lines 3/10) are all rail-reachable.
Stay on the grid and Chengdu becomes effortless: anywhere within the Line 7 ring plus Line 1 south puts the whole city within 40 minutes. The one mistake visitors make is the airport schlep — Line 18's fast trains from South Railway Station reach Tianfu in about 40 minutes for a few yuan, versus ¥150+ and unpredictable traffic by car. And for Chongqing day trips, the high-speed train from Chengdu East at 350 km/h beats flying center-to-center by two hours; book the second class — it's where China travels.
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