The Longest metro line in the world: Shanghai-Suzhou line 11 (123.7km !)

I travel to Suzhou on the new metro system link via Huaqiao station between the Shanghai and Suzhou metro systems. Line 11 Shanghai is over 82km long and the new Suzhou line is 41km long. The far east of the line ends at the Disney resort and Disney adverts are evident throughout the system.
Suzhou is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the most populous city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade and commerce.
The Shanghai Metro is a rapid transit system in Shanghai, operating urban and suburban transit services to 14 of its 16 municipal districts[d] and to Kunshan, Jiangsu Province. Served as a part of Shanghai rail transit, the Shanghai Metro system is the world's biggest metro system by route length, totaling 802 kilometres It is also the second biggest by the number of stations with 408 stations on 19 lines. It ranks first in the world by annual ridership with 3.88 billion rides delivered in 2019. The daily ridership record was set at 13.29 million on March 8, 2019. Over 10 million people use the system on an average workday, even after COVID, accounting for 73% of public transport trips in Shanghai.
Administratively, Suzhou is a prefecture-level city with a population of 6,715,559 in the city proper, and a total resident population of 12,748,262 as of the 2020 census in its administrative area. The city jurisdiction area's north waterfront is on a lower reach of the Yangtze whereas it has its more focal south-western waterfront on Lake Tai - crossed by several waterways, its district belongs to the Yangtze River Delta region. Suzhou is now part of the Greater Shanghai metro area, incorporating most of Changzhou, Wuxi and Suzhou urban districts plus Kunshan and Taicang, with a population of more than 38,000,000 residents as of 2020. Its urban population grew at an unprecedented rate of 6.5% between 2000 and 2014, which is the highest among cities with more than 5,000,000 people.
Founded in 514 BC, Suzhou has had a long and productive history. Local museums host abundant displays of its relics and many sites of historical interest exist. Around AD 100, during the Eastern Han dynasty, it became one of the ten largest cities in the world, mostly due to emigration from northern China. Since the 10th century, Suzhou has been an important center of China's industry and foreign trade. During the late 15th century to the 19th century, Suzhou was a national economic, cultural, and commercial center, as well as the largest non-capital city in the world, until it was overtaken by Shanghai. Since major economic reforms began in 1978, Suzhou has become one of the fastest growing major cities in the world, with GDP growth rates of about 14% in the past 35 years. With high life expectancy and per capita incomes, Suzhou's Human Development Index ratings is roughly comparable to a moderately developed country, making it one of the most highly developed and prosperous cities in China.

[@aronyang]

Pretty interesting, both Shanghai and Suzhou's metro system call this line #11 and connect to each other in a place named "flower bridge".

[@pal2011]

Wow that's very interesting - transferring from one city's metro system to another, and the cities are 100km apart!

[@ainsleyfrastructurekpopmashups]

Yes, Clark is like Suzhou of Manila, as it has a potential to become a satellite city 80-100km apart from Manila, plus, PNR-NSCR or Manila Metro Line 10, or Pampanga Metro Line 1, will be the longest Metro Line in the World when it opens in 2028 for phase 3, and 2033 for Lucena+Batangas extension, running from Clark, to Batangas port without transferring a train.

[@appa609]

@@ainsleyfrastructurekpopmashups Nobobdy asked about Manila?

[@jasonbeedon9867]

Love it! I lived in Suzhou for many years. Love to see the new developments.

[@timmytumbler]

The line 11 metro lengths are 82.4km and 41.3km for a combined length of 123.7km !

[@weizhang2834]

China government wanted the residents more convenient to work and off both cities

[@ChinaSongsCollection]

Wow! A metro going from Shanghai to Suzhou 👍 How much would a ticket be? (I know it's free today)

[@SqridmusZam]

@@ChinaSongsCollection Shanghai Line 11 from Disney to Huaqiao may cost 10 Yuan and Suzhou Line 11 from Huaqiao to Weiting may cost 8 Yuan.

[@ChinaSongsCollection]

@@SqridmusZam Wow!! So cheap 👍👍

[@ainsleyfrastructurekpopmashups]

Yes, the total combined length of PNR-NSCR might be even more than line 11, which is almost 200km from Clark Airport/New Clark City to Batangas City. Will be the longest metro line in the world, named Manila Metro Line 10, while Line 9 is for Subway connected to PNR-NSCR.

[@quanfung5958]

Its another level above on Public Transport in China Fantastic !

[@shiwang8989]

We had to take a bus to Suzhou back in 2014. I knew there is high speed train from SH to Suzhou, but coming up metro!? Wow, am speechless🥲

[@ChristianWatsonNC]

Very interesting to see out the front of the train, Tim!

[@timmytumbler]

Shanghai has about 5 lines like this now, and it seems all new lines being added will be the same and driverless now.

[@jjola8663]

China's unmanned driving technology is already very mature

[@ChinaSongsCollection]

*​@JJ OLA* Some cities in China has already had driverless taxis and driverless 'buses' for more than a year. (The 'buses' are not actual buses. They are more like large vans) Actually I think maybe more like 2 years(?) But previously, the driverless taxis were required by law to have a driver sitting at the driver seat. However recently, I think they've done away with that requirement 👍

[@pharmacist5884]

All stations having platform edge/screen doors for security reasons (no more incidents of people falling or worse being pushed onto the tracks when a incoming train might crush you) and for undeground stations reduced running costs for airconditioning for the cold air not escaping into the tunnels.

[@troy5094]

Hey Tim, great video, a fun detail you may have missed: Suzhou Line 11 actually has included Kunshanese (the local dialect) in its train announcements, the only line to do so in all of Shanghai and Suzhou 😂

[@olitesla5891]

tell me more about this local dialecrt, i cant find anything about it

[@troy5094]

@@olitesla5891 it is part of wu chinese, which also includes shanghainese, suzhounese, ningbonese and so on. I've seen some people say what they used is suzhounese instead of kunshanese, which I can't tell because I don't speak wu chinese. However, this is an increasingly common phenomenon is southern chinese cities and I just find it quite fascinating

[@appa609]

I wonder if the metros of Suzhou, Wuxi, Changzhou, Zhenjiang, and Nanjing will end up all connecting together. All big cities spaced about 20km apart in a line. This might eventually become a 200 km + subway line.

[@timmytumbler]

Do you realize Shanghai on its own is 800km already, maybe you missed a zero ?

[@chicken_dinher]

Great video as always Tim! Actually pretty coincidental timing with Los Angeles' A Line was just reconfigured on Friday to become the world's longest light rail line at 49.5 miles/79.7 km!

[@timmytumbler]

thank you

[@tkyap2524]

It's all about connectivity. With such a large population, the railway line will be profitable.

[@AmelieZh]

And with one hour, I'm still stuck in Toronto..., funny how an hour can work

[@timmytumbler]

I took a book with me, but never opened it, too interesting to look outside on the overground :)

[@AmelieZh]

@@timmytumblerwas it all overground? That's cool

[@timmytumbler]

No, some of Shanghai 11 is, all of Suzhou 11 was underground (that I took)

[@JackMiller-lq4qd]

Toronto shit, today I was stuck on the bus 19 waiting for the peak hour car flow for 10 minutes on hwy 401, we didn't travel faster than 60kmh on all this hwy route, also tell u a secret, the Eglinton crosstown will become the longest and the most delayed engineering infrastructure project in human history (14 years of time of duration), which added another black history in Canadian history lollll When China and Europe are expanding its transit system, freedom parties Trudeau are still cutting the budget of public transit and want everyone to get a G2 license 🪪

[@jinifith]

I rode Shanghai-Suzhou Lines 11 in January from Suzhou Xinqu Railway Station to Caoyang Road Station then transferred to Pudian Road Station on Line 4 in Pudong. I had make a lunch break at Kunshan and bathroom break at Caoyang. It took almost 5 hours. If I waited for high speed train at Suzhou Xinqu for about an hour, I would have arrived at Pudian Road more than 2 hours earlier.

[@difuxin7226]

Man you surely got an as*s made of iron

[@willqin4628]

This video reminds me of what the local public transport office of my city told us several days ago. The officer said 'we are planning to connect to Suzhou by extending certain line'. Who know when the plan will actually been executed like Shanghai and Suzhou did.

[@mikeliu-te3vk]

China's infrastructure capacity is too strong, and in addition, China's transportation facilities in various aspects are also world leading.

[@yadusolparterre]

Yeah but the cost of that is crippling debt.

[@mikeliu-te3vk]

@@yadusolparterre The Chinese government spends heavily on infrastructure construction to facilitate the people, while the US government spends money on weapons to fight, which is a different approach from the governments of the two countries.

[@yadusolparterre]

@@mikeliu-te3vk China spends a bigger proportion of its gdp on war effort. You've been brainwashed

[@hanmi1216]

​@@yadusolparterre I'd better have a debt for construction which is in return can make money from it in the future, than have a mega debt for weapons and arms that makes destruction and enemy.

[@yadusolparterre]

@@hanmi1216 "we are bad but America is bad too so that's okay" Typical wumao

[@donaldliu]

Hi Tim, thanks for your hard-working sharing the update, awesome! Regards from Donald at Suzhou

[@Kotsuyosama]

There will be more super long "metro" lines with single line exceeding 100km at Shanghai Metro in the future. They will use the train that is similar to the HSR train to connect suburbs , satellites towns and neighbor cities.

[@yuey0602]

Actually the longest metro line is in Qingdao. Dongjiakou station to Qiangushan station is 156KM.

[@jeffreyINAus]

Next step ,Suzhou metro authority will connect to Wuxi metro networks, then shanghainese could take metro trains to Wuxi Taihu lake to see Cherry blossom

[@enzhus]

Then changzhou, zhengjiang, Nanjing, hefei? That would be nice 😂

[@jeffreyINAus]

@@enzhus you know everything

[@JackMiller-lq4qd]

​@@enzhusjust like u can take a suburban train from London to Manchester, from newyork to pheilla, from Paris to Orleans, in the Western Germany metropolitan areas

[@kev7161]

@@enzhus But don't the bullet trains already make these stops?

[@difuxin7226]

@@kev7161 Yep, but the bullet trains are too fast to stop at all of the smaller towns and villages in between the cities.

[@davidramblerfranca5942]

this line will fully open this month！！！😀

[@likpasaaa8074]

Interesting video 💝🇨🇳👌

[@jhuang7736]

You should go to visit Kunshan Wenhuayishuzhongxin (Kunshan Culture and Arts Center) Station (Not like Shanghai, Suzhou metro doesn’t really translate name to English, only romanization of station names), it’s really modern and beautiful

[@troy5094]

Yeah the fact they don't translate it sucks

[@jupplut6159]

Looks like fun for foreign tourist, but need to be patience but quick and intelligent to keep up with the local commuters.

[@piroskawong3374]

Thank you for sharing. 👍👍👍

[@stvdmc2011]

Wow China has great public transportation systems.

[@xixi560]

Lmao "Disney have- quite correctly, used this opportunity to get an advert in" 🤣

[@timmytumbler]

It really might help expand their user base, Suzhou to Disney in

[@xixi560]

@@timmytumbler for sure- makes sense, definitely worth the ad

[@AmelieZh]

@@timmytumblerit's already happening.

[@timmytumbler]

Almost all shanghai metro lines have "short stoppers" but line 11 does not, EVERY train goes all the way to the end of the line at both ends, I wonder if Disney influenced that also....

[@andrewfu9363]

Regarding the city-metro system, western countries really need learn from China.

[@handaxia1251]

there's nothing to learn, the technology itself comes from the west and still being used and upgraded. It is "the will" to serve people that counts, there's just no incentive for the leader to do so because they are only in office for 4 years, why bother work so hard to start it when it is somebody else who will take the advantage to present your hard work to initiate it to the public. Remember, These people live in individualistic society, not a collective one, it's a structural problem.

[@kohaku4412]

6:18 actually suzhou line 11 opens a through service into suzhou line 3 recently. now the train will continue operating until jinsheqiao station on line 3, so there would be map of line 3 on the line 11 platform

[@kev7161]

The area between Shanghai and Suzhou also includes Kunshan plus a lot of rural area, yet people refer to these areas as "Suzhou". It's a little confusing. I always think of Suzhou Industrial Park on the east side as the farthest extreme of the actual city, but that may be because it's the farthest east I'd ever been when living in Suzhou. Glad to see the Line 11 connection finally being finished up as it was only being talked about when I lived there about 6-7 years ago. I don't know how it will compare to simply taking a bullet train to Shanghai but it will be good for those who need to get off on one of the many stops in between.

[@wucaizhang]

以前有段时间经常乘坐

[@michaelzm76]

I think it will spend three hours from Shanghai People's Square Station to Suzhou City Center...you know the high-speed rail only takes half an hour...anyway this is a special choice for travel another city from shanghai...🤣

[@mutucurry9071]

China has the most modern, efficient and affordable subway system on the planet

[@martinxu4499]

Interchange channel in huaqiao station will be opened with offical operation. But i think it's too much time to travelling by metro🤣Next time you can compare with high speed train.

[@georwoogle]

👍👍👍

[@rollingdownfalling]

Definitely do one for Chongqing, one of the most complex and interesting cities to explore due to its mountainous terrain, because one of the stations is in a residential building.

[@pandabearoceanpark]

The English signs on the train still have something to be desired. "Suzhou Bolanzhongxin" can simply be translated to "Suzhou Expo".

[@seanfish17]

Among both government agencies and people there are infinite discussion and argument on the Latin representation of Chinese Place names, and they don’t seem to end anytime soon…

[@appa609]

I assume nobody would ever take this line from downtown Shanghai to downtown Suzhou when there are fast trains connecting the two? I assume it's more for the people who live in between. Like my grandparents in Kunshan.

[@alextjflorida]

This is above ground like a regular train.

[@timmytumbler]

Quite a lot of Hong Kong MTR is above ground

[@dokingjonson6173]

Crazy.

[@fzxanti6734]

3:03 您出错误了。上海市与江苏省交界处在“安亭”与“兆丰路”之间，而非处在“上海汽车城”与“安亭”之间。

[@jennyohara4011]

Amazing... do they work on these metro lines 24/7 or like here in Australia just 7 hours per day 5 days per week?

[@timmytumbler]

‘Work’ you mean run ? If so in HK from about 05:30 to 01:00 roughly

[@jeffreyINAus]

Haha,finally you had gone to experienced

[@bigmantrue1]

So, you got 406+154 = 560 metro stations connected

[@JackMiller-lq4qd]

New York cried

[@teckmenglee8060]

how long did you take to reach Suzhou?

[@geoffreytang6827]

WOW just wow~ ⊙o⊙

[@user-vq9cd2kl7z]

would be much better to run a through service, as they will do for suhzou line 3 + 11.

[@user-vq9cd2kl7z]

btw, Suzhou line 3+11 runs through services so is more justified as a whole system with length 45+41 = 86 km. If this runs through service with Shanghai 11 that becomes 86+82 = 168, very long indeed.

[@danielderose9378]

Why cannot they connect to each other without changing stations? I travelled to China many times. China has modern public transportation, but it is very inconvenient from one type of transportation to others.

[@directxxxx71]

You simply take HSR

[@user-ge3pc8qp5c]

不是所有都不互相连接的，中国的任何东西都不能一概而论

[@cz8935]

He has explained it suppose to be connected and the connection place is still under construction. He did show the sign of under construction in the video.

[@destiny2020]

Because the Shanghai section requires high-density departures, the Suzhou section does not need to be so dense, and usually does not need so many cross-border trains. Merging operations will bring a lot of inconvenience, so separate operations are currently the best solution.

[@wai-shinglam4447]

I prefer to take the high speed rail, instead of Metros, from Shanghai to Suzhou. That's simply too long for taking the metro！ 🙀

[@thabom9791]

It's not meant for those who want to travel straight from Shanghai to Suzhou or the reverse. Those ones can take the train.

[@first8956]

they really should have had the two lines differently numbered during the planning phase! maybe, Suzhou should have been more thoughtful in this case unless passengers will be able to continue their journey on the same train in the future.

[@kohaku4412]

Suzhou Line 11 used to be called Line S1 before it's opened, don't know why they changed it to make it more confusing

[@noneintel2119]

Driverless train is no way in the USA because the UNION will against it , no more union due.

[@Nicolas-gy3zf]

Honestly, why are people forced to transfer like that?

[@mopikozz]

Just curious as to why would anyone take this route instead of the 30mins high speed rail to Suzhou?

[@abdulwaduod11]

because its cheaper

[@EnixSpike]

it cost 25-30RMB from suzhou to shanghai by high speed train and it takes 25mins. I would like to know how much it will cost by metro and how long will it takes😂

[@timmytumbler]

I think the card systems are still split (but not certain), if split then cost from center to center will be something like 5+5 rmb, time from Xujiahui to end of Shanghai line 11 was just over one hour, so overall about 2 hours, and for people in Suzhou to get to Disney then almost 3 (!)

[@yankonichshev3249]

I am wondering how long did the whole journey take? 2 hours for the one-way trip, I presume?

[@wai-shinglam4447]

I think it would take 3 hours if fully opened！ 🙀

[@stvdmc2011]

Wow there. Is really no need to have personal car

[@wai-shinglam4447]

@stvdmc2011 ,better take the high speed rail

[@yankonichshev3249]

totally! I guess it is useful for those who live in suburbs and need to commute to Shanghai / Suzhou

[@destiny2020]

Few people will go from the beginning to the end, the high-speed rail is faster at this distance

[@嘉旭]

For Suzhou people, it takes too long to take the subway to Shanghai

[@mfxx888]

it's not the longest in the world, this is two lines, which you need to change in between, even though they are both named after line 11, it actually belongs to 2 municipality and running as 2 completely different system, that's why you also need to change from one vehicle to another.

[@khanhhung8959]

how can they built so many of these in such a short time? Every shovel for every Chinese male so that they can dig underground that fast?

[@JP-sg8ng]

Look at the difference between American trains and china trains stations 😂😂😂 china trains Stations so clear and no drugs people and rubbish all over the place

[@jjola8663]

Drug addicts in China go to jail and are monitored for life. Drug trafficking is basically the death penalty

[@JackMiller-lq4qd]

Maybe in the future China will also have these social problems, China is the "modern world", USA is the " postmodern" world since 1970s

[@kev7161]

It makes a big difference when people actually take pride in their surroundings and most parents raise their children to be aware of both laws and considerate living. However, saying that, I saw plenty of people walking around throwing their rubbish wherever they wanted to (when I lived in China). Someone actually told me once that people do that on purpose so the street cleaners will have something to do!

[@chunlee1782]

how about the fares

[@CatBot007]

Metro fares in Asia is cheap af compared to the US

[@perile]

Tim needs to ask a Cantonese speaking friend to pronounce 花橋/花桥 in Cantonese. ☺

[@KinLee919]

Why? He's in a Wu region. Not Cantonese region.

[@perile]

@@KinLee919 I know, humor is not your strong point, isn't it?

[@MathTidbits]

should try to pronounce "霍橋" in cantonese instead.

[@perile]

@@MathTidbits Works fine as well, but joke was that the station's name 花橋/花桥.

[@KinLee919]

@@perile oh i just get it.😂

[@henry-pj9zo]

it takes too much time...

[@user-wc2gz6fy4j]

One minute?

[@andrewzhu5890]

You're right. If you take the high-speed train, it only takes 25 minutes.

[@Lee-fw3vq]

test

[@seraphium]

Almost all cities in China like Suzhou [su:dʒəʊ] metro translate all the station names in Pinyin while Shanghai is the only one in China use English as much as possible.