The Yangtze River Delta is about to enter the era of the "super metro." The Shanghai-Suzhou-Jiaxing Intercity Railway is expected to be operational in 2028. By then, passengers can travel from Suzhou or Jiashan to Shanghai Hongqiao in half an hour, and seamlessly transfer to Shanghai Disneyland or Pudong Airport. This "super metro" is faster than the metro and has broader coverage than high-speed rail, greatly enhancing internal connectivity within the Shanghai metropolitan area.

　　On the eve of the 2026 Yangtze River Delta Regional Leaders Symposium, construction is in full swing at the Shuixiang Keting Station of the Shanghai-Suzhou-Jiaxing Intercity Railway. Located at the junction of Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang, Shuixiang Keting Station was once a remote area of provincial development. Now it is not only within the Yangtze River Delta Ecological Green Integrated Development Demonstration Zone but will also become a hub station of the intercity railway network of Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. Wang Yang, deputy manager of the Sixth Project Management Department of Shanghai Shentie Investment Co., Ltd., told reporters that the civil construction of Shuixiang Keting Station has been completed by 60%. The entire station is divided into seven zones; the main structures of Zones 1, 3, 5, and 7 have been completed, and Zones 2, 4, and 6 have entered the foundation pit excavation stage.

　　Along the Shanghai-Suzhou-Jiaxing Intercity Railway from Shuixiang Keting Station eastward into Shanghai, there are nearly 10 stations including Xicen, Zhujiajiao, Qingpu Xincheng, Chonggu, and Shanghai Hongqiao. The Shanghai section is also called the Demonstration Zone Line. Westward into Suzhou, there are stations including Fenhu, Suzhou South, and Bachai; the Suzhou section is also called the Shuixiang Tourism Line. Southward into Jiaxing, there are stations including Xiangfudang, Xitang, Yaozhuang, Zhongxin Industrial Park, and Jiashan, consisting of the Jiashan-Xitang Line and the Jiaxing-Fengnan Line.

　　This intercity railway is a landmark project for infrastructure connectivity among Shanghai, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. With a total length of 170 kilometers and an operating speed of 160 km/h, twice that of the metro, it is scheduled to be completed and open to traffic in June 2028.

　　Many people may wonder: the high-speed rail network in the Yangtze River Delta is already very dense, and since there are already high-speed railways from Shanghai to Suzhou and Jiaxing, why build another intercity railway? In fact, high-speed rail and intercity rail serve different needs and are largely complementary. If high-speed rail is like an expressway, then intercity metro and suburban railways are like urban expressways.

　　High-speed rail achieves rapid long-distance travel from city to city, such as from Shanghai Hongqiao to Suzhou, Jiaxing, and Hangzhou. It pursues cross-city, cross-province long-distance efficiency, with relatively few stations and high speed. But the problem is that high-speed rail covers "points," while both the Shanghai metropolitan area and the Yangtze River Delta city cluster require higher-frequency, finer-grained "surface" flows.

　　For example, after the Shanghai-Suzhou-Jiaxing Intercity Railway opens, people living in Jiashan and working in Qingpu will not need to take a high-speed train to Shanghai Hongqiao first and then transfer to the metro to reach their destination. Instead, they can directly take this intercity railway from Jiashan into Shanghai and get off at stations such as Xicen Sci-Tech Innovation Center, Qingpu Xincheng, or Chonggu as needed. They can even continue seamless transfers to Shanghai's suburban railways after arriving at Shanghai Hongqiao to reach Minhang, Xuhui, Pudong, and other areas.

　　Within Shanghai, the layout of suburban railways is accelerating. In December 2024, the Shanghai Suburban Airport Line officially opened, providing about 40-minute access from Hongqiao Hub to Pudong Airport, with several intermediate stations including Shanghai International Resort. In addition to the aforementioned Demonstration Zone Line (the Shanghai section of the Shanghai-Suzhou-Jiaxing Intercity Railway) and the Suburban Airport Line, Shanghai is also accelerating the construction of other suburban railways such as the Jiamin Line, Nanhui Branch Line, and Nanfeng Line.

      Compared with the metro, where passengers must change trains when lines change, suburban railways can achieve "train switching lines." Because they adopt interoperable technical standards and systems, suburban railways are inherently interoperable and capable of "cross-line operation." For example, if a passenger plans to travel by rail from Jiading to Pudong International Airport, the conventional way is to take Shanghai Metro Line 11 to Jiangsu Road Station and transfer to Metro Line 2. Once all suburban railway lines are open, trains will be able to run directly from the Jiamin Line via Shanghai Hongqiao onto the Airport Link Line, allowing passengers to reach their destination without getting off to transfer.

　　Furthermore, the "interconnectivity" of infrastructure also provides greater imagination space for the integration of the Yangtze River Delta metropolitan area. If tourists from Zhejiang and Jiangsu want to visit Disneyland, after entering Shanghai via the Shanghai-Suzhou-Jiaxing Intercity Railway and arriving at Shanghai Hongqiao, they may not need to get off; trains could directly run to the appropriate stations on the Airport Link Line. However, the specific cross-line operation arrangements will be optimized based on actual operating conditions after the lines open.

　　In recent years, R&D and supply chain exchanges between enterprises in the Yangtze River Delta have become increasingly frequent, with large numbers of people commuting across cities and conducting business daily. The denser the rail transit, the weaker the sense of city boundaries, and the lower the cost of talent and factor mobility between Shanghai and Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, and other places. In this sense, the "Yangtze River Delta on Rails" is not just about connectivity but is reshaping the economic geography of the entire region.

　　One can imagine that in the future, the Yangtze River Delta, led by Shanghai, will form a highly interconnected metropolitan area and city cluster.

Source: The Paper