RESIDENTS in Longgang District and Pingshan and Guangming new areas will be able to get to downtown Shenzhen within 45 minutes after the fourth phase of the city’s underground railway network is completed in 2025, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.

    The general planning of the Metro network’s Phase IV has been mapped out, the paper said. With an investment of 320 billion yuan (US$50 billion), 70 percent of the 411-kilometer Metro project covers areas outside of the former special economic zone (SEZ). The former SEZ was limited to Nanshan, Futian, Luohu and Yantian districts.

    The project is expected to relieve traffic congestion around the former checkpoints of the former SEZ, including Buji, Meilin and Nantou areas, according to the planners.

    Currently, traffic is extremely slow around these areas, even outside of peak driving hours.

    The planned project also covers Shekou and Qianhai, part of the Guangdong Free Trade Zone, the Nanshan Science and Technology Park, the Universiade New Town in Longgang and Pingshan’s central area, where traffic congestion is a constant problem.

    The city government will submit the plan for Phase IV project to the national authority for approval by the end of this year.

    Shenzhen’s roads are among the busiest in the nation and the city has the highest density of vehicles on road, previous media reports have said. The city government hopes expanding the railway network will solve the issue.

    By the end of 2020, the Metro network will run 435 kilometers after the completion of the Phase III project.

    Phase III’s Metro lines 7, 9 and 11 are expected to start service by the end of next year, with Line 11 between Futian and the Shenzhen airport opening in June next year. The extension of six lines will also start at the end of the year. The extensions are expected to be finished by 2020.

    Future Metro construction will add more exits to Metro stations. There are no more than four exits for Metro stations already in service, with some having only two exits. Many residents said it is very inconvenient to exit the stations.

    The Chegongmiao Station, for example, which will become an interchange station for Metro lines 1, 7, 9 and 11, will have 13 exits when completed. It is expected to handle up to 460,000 people daily. (SD News)