Ürümqi Metro

The Ürümqi Metro or Ürümqi Subway is a rapid transit system in operation in Ürümqi, capital of the Xinjiang Autonomous Region in China. It is the 35th rapid transit system to be put into operation on the Chinese mainland and the second in northwest China. At only 33.4 km (20.8 mi), the Ürümqi Metro is currently the smallest metro system in terms of length in Mainland China.

Ürümqi Metro
A Line 1 train
Overview
Locale	Ürümqi, Xinjiang, China
Transit type	Rapid transit
Number of lines	1
Number of stations	23
Daily ridership	162,000 (29 April 2023 record)[1]
Annual ridership	39,281,000 (2023)[2]
Website	http://www.urumqimtr.com/
Operation
Began operation	October 25, 2018; 6 years ago (2018-10-25)
Operator(s)	Ürümqi Rail Transit Corporation
Number of vehicles	162 Revenue Railcars (July 2018)
Technical
System length	33.4 km (20.8 mi)[3]
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
System map

Ürümqi Metro
Chinese name
Simplified Chinese	乌鲁木齐地铁
Traditional Chinese	烏魯木齊地鐵
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Wūlǔmùqí Dìtiě
Uyghur name
Uyghur	ئۈرۈمچى مېتروسى‎
Transcriptions Latin Yëziqi Ürümchi Mëtrosi Yengi Yeziⱪ Ürümqi Metrosi SASM/GNC Ürümqi Mêtrosi Siril Yëziqi Үрүмчи Метроси

The Ürümqi Metro has submitted plans for two lines, Line 1 and Line 2, with an estimated cost of 31.24 billion yuan.^[4]

Lines

Line 1

Main article: Line 1 (Ürümqi Metro)

Concourse of Erdaoqiao Station

Line 1 runs from Ürümqi Tianshan International Airport through downtown Ürümqi and ends at Santunbei station. It has a total length of 27.615 km^[5] and 21 stations.^[5][6] It is fully underground.^[7]

Line 1 started construction on 20 March 2014. The northern section of the line was opened on 25 October 2018. The southern section of the line was opened on 28 June 2019.^[5]

Line	Terminals		Operational	Last extension	Length km	Stations
1	International Airport (Xinshi)	Santunbei (Tianshan)	2018	2019	27.615[5]	21

Airport MRT

The Airport MRT was opened on 17 April 2025, and runs in Ürümqi Tianshan International Airport only.^[8][9] It consists of two stations, namely International Airport and International Airport North. This is treated as a shuttle, connecting the closed southern terminal and the northern terminal. They planned for an east terminal extension, but this was cancelled.

Station name			Transfer
English	Chinese	Uyghur
International Airport	国际机场	خەلقئارا ئايروپورت	1  URC South[a]
International Airport North	国际机场北	خەلقئارا ئايروپورت شىمال	URC North
International Airport East	国际机场东	شەرق خەلقئارا ئايروپورت

Light grey= Unplanned \ Cancelled \ U\C

Notes

1. The South Terminal was closed on April 17th 2025 to make way for the new North Terminal

Under construction

Urumqi Metro Map with planned expansions shown.

Line 2

Ürümqi metro line 2 is under construction. The line will have 16 stations from Yan'an Road to Huashan Street.^[10] Line 2 will serve Ürümqi railway station. The first stretch will open from Huashan Street upto Nanmen in July 2025. The rest of the part will open in 2027. The following is the route:

Yan’an Road – Xiangyangpo – Dawan – Heijiashan – Xingfu Road Middle – Xingfu Road West – Nanmen – Zhongqiao – Nianzigou – Nanliangpo – Xinjiang Agricultural University – Maliaodi – Pingchuan Road – Jiujiawan – Urumqi Railway Station – Huashan Street.

The color of this line is green.

Phase 2 of line 2 is currently in early consideration on planning. A 5.33 km section of phase 2 is completed in 17 April 2025 as Airport MRT.

Future Development

Lines 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 are under planning.

Network planning map

Network Map

See also

• List of metro systems
• Urban rail transit in China

Other Transport in Ürümqi

• Ürümqi BRT, an Bus in Xinjiang Autonomous Region