The Wuhan Metro (simplified Chinese: 武汉轨道交通; pinyin: Wǔhàn Guǐdào Jiāotōng) is an elevated and underground metro system in the city of Wuhan, China. It is referred to as a light rail system in Chinese terminology. The first line, located entirely within the Hankou part of the city, opened on September 28, 2004.

Lines

Line 1

Line 1 is a 10.2-km line. The line has ten stations. In the future, by the year 2010, Line 1 will be extended from both ends, and will be extended into a 30-km line with 26 stations. Current Line 1 stations are: Zongguan, Taipingyang, Qiaokoulu, Chongrenlu, Lijibeilu, Youyilu, Jianghanlu (connection with future Line 2), Dazhilu, Sanyanglu, Huangpulu.

Controversy: Because of poor planning (the line was implemented on viaduct in the middle of the right of way of an unused railway line to reduce the construction/relocation cost) and an accelerated construction pace, ridership is now very low: 20,000 Trips/day instead of more than 500,000 planned. The main reasons are:

• poor location not serving historical and commercial city center (an underground link would have probably been necessary),
• competition with buses which parallel the Metro line at less than 400 m and whose prices are cheaper and stops are more closely spaced,
• very poor accessibility caused by the viaduct which makes pedestrians cross wide, busy roads to get to the metro line and the lack of elevator access forcing a long walk up stairs to the platforms,
• the absence of fare integration of the whole network as mass transit in Wuhan is managed by several operators (i.e. Metro and Buses) whose interests are sometimes far different,
• the lack of real ridership planning
• the political will to be the sixth or seventh city with a Metro in China, before Shenyang or other competitive cities.

All of this led to a costly, inefficient project that badly needs to be integrated with the rest of the transportation system by at least:

• an integrated fare structure
• the creation of feeder bus routes, and probably in the long term,
• redesigning the central part of the line by the historic central city to make it more easily accessed and customer friendly.

Line 2

Line 2 will mostly be underground. It will run in a northwest-southeast route between Hankou and Wuchang, with two branches in Wuchang. The line is expected to be finished by 2010.

Line 4

Line 4, which will also be primarily underground, will be an east-west route serving the Hanyang and Wuchang areas. It is also expected to be finished by 2010.

Future Lines

Line 3, Line 5, Line 6 and Line 7 are currently being planned.

See also

• List of rapid transit systems

External links

• UrbanRail.net's page on the Wuhan Metro

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