RAIL HUB · HANGZHOU
Hangzhou East is among Asia’s busiest railway stations — the Yangtze Delta’s high-speed crossroads — while the city metro, built almost entirely since 2012, already runs 516 km across twelve lines and is adding 153 more by 2028.
Hangzhou East — 15 platforms, a small city of a station — is where the Shanghai, Nanjing, Ningbo and Huangshan high-speed lines cross. It functions as the delta’s eastern hinge: Shanghai in 45 minutes, the Huangshan mountains in 90, and a metro interchange underneath that distributes arrivals across the city in one fare.
The classic Hangzhou railway station at the city center still handles conventional trains, while Hangzhou West — opened for the Asian Games — takes the northwestern corridors. Three stations, one logic: keep the high-speed flows out of each other’s way and everything on the metro.
The numbers are still hard to believe: Line 1 opened in November 2012; by 2025 the network ran 516 km and 254 stations, with the Asian Games as the forcing function. Phase IV — approved by the NDRC in November 2022 — adds 152.9 km and 90 stations by 2028, including the orbital Line 15 (40.5 km, 30 stations) and the express Line 18 (48 km).
Line 9 Phase II became the first Phase IV project to complete tunneling, a year ahead of schedule — the pace that has made Hangzhou the benchmark for Chinese metro delivery. For visitors: the metro reaches the airport, both main stations, West Lake’s shores and the Grand Canal; a day of sightseeing is a ¥7 exercise.
The TIO read: Hangzhou is the proof case that China’s rail machine works below the top tier — a decade from zero to 516 km, and the busiest delta station outside Shanghai. The tourist arithmetic is simple: arrive at East by high-speed rail, metro everywhere, fly home from a 50-million airport. This is the best-connected “second city” in the country.
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