What new plans will there be for Nanchang's metro construction over the next five years? What convenience will metro construction bring to Nanchang residents? On July 21, Nanchang Rail Transit Group released a review of the "13th Five-Year Plan" period and an outlook for the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, noting that by the end of 2025, average daily metro ridership is expected to reach 1.3 million passenger trips, and the mileage of metro lines under construction and in operation will exceed 200 kilometers.

Since Metro Line 1 opened for operation on December 26, 2015, underground transportation in the Hero City has changed year by year. With three lines in operation, one line under construction and about to open, and three extension lines nearing the start of construction, Nanchang Metro trains keep moving forward, changing the way Nanchang residents travel, reshaping the urban form of Nanchang, and enhancing the city's capacity.

Building the metro is about improving people's livelihoods. To this end, Nanchang Rail Transit Group has continuously accelerated construction progress. During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, Nanchang Metro's operating mileage increased from 28.8 kilometers at the end of the "12th Five-Year Plan" period to 88.8 kilometers.

Over the past five years, Nanchang Metro successfully moved from "single-line operation" to the "network era." Average daily ridership rose from 277,000 to 700,000 passenger trips, with a peak of 1.447 million passenger trips, ensuring more than 600 million safe passenger trips. After Line 4 opens, Nanchang Metro's total operating mileage will exceed 128 kilometers, and average daily ridership will reach 1 million passenger trips.

Over the five years, train operation diagrams were optimized and adjusted 17 times. Daily operating service hours were extended from 15 hours to 18 hours, and headways were shortened from 8 minutes to 5 minutes and 12 seconds. Starting July 1 this year, the peak-period headway on Line 1 on weekdays was further shortened to 4 minutes and 48 seconds.

How should Nanchang Rail Transit Group focus its efforts during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period?

In engineering construction, it will ensure high-quality implementation of Nanchang Metro's second-phase construction plan and the adjusted second-phase construction plan. It will vigorously advance the accelerated preparation and approval of the second-round network plan and the third-phase construction plan, striving to obtain approval for the third-phase construction plan in the middle of the "14th Five-Year Plan" period (around the end of 2022).

It will ensure that Metro Line 4 opens by the end of 2021, and strive for the three extension lines—the eastern extension of Line 1, the northern extension of Line 1, and the eastern extension of Line 2—to open by the end of 2025. On the premise that the third-phase construction plan is approved, it will strive to start construction of 2 to 3 new metro lines around 2023, accelerating the creation of a three-dimensional rail transit network. At the same time, it will actively promote regional integrated development and strive to advance the implementation and construction of 1 to 2 municipal railway projects during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period.

In terms of data, based on 91.9 billion yuan in 2020, it will strive to increase Nanchang Rail Transit Group's total assets to 180 billion yuan by the end of the "14th Five-Year Plan." The mileage of metro lines under construction and in operation will double. On the basis of the current 88.8 kilometers, it will strive to exceed 200 kilometers of metro lines under construction and in operation by the end of the "14th Five-Year Plan" period (including 160 kilometers in operation). Average daily metro ridership will double. Based on the average daily 650,000 passenger trips at the end of 2020, it will strive to reach 1.3 million passenger trips by the end of 2025. The metro's share of public transport trips will approach 50%, making the metro the main public transport mode in Nanchang.