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Xiamen, island city in Fujian province on southeastern coast, some 350 km northeast of Hong Kong; 3.5 million inhabitants in urban area.

31 Dec 2017: Yannei - Zhenhai Road (30.3 km)

25 Dec 2019: Wuyuanwan - Tianzhushan (41.6 km)
26 Apr 2021: + Dongyao

25 Jun 2021: Xiamen Railway Station - Caicuo (26.3 km)
05 Sept 2022: + Pubian
25 Jun 2023: + Sports & Convention Center, Dongjie, Hongkeng and Xiang’an Public Park

Xiamen Metro (Official Site)

Xiamen Metro at Wikipedia

Craig Moore's impressions in Jan 2018:

Located on a series of islands and coastal inlets, Greater Xiamen is a Chinese tourist hotspot. Whilst topographically quite beautiful, the main urban area is a mass of neon and somewhat ‘disney-fied’. The city does, however, boast an impressive new urban rail system. The Xiamen Metro opened on the last day of 2017 and is currently the world’s newest Metro. The route of Line 1 runs along the city's principal north-south axis from the port area (Zhenhai Road), and through the main commercial area of Xiamen Island and the busy airport area of Gaoqi. It then crosses the inlet to the mainland, resting on a broad sea wall, offering impressive views on the Jimei skyline and the road and rail bridges at either side. The sea crossing is punctured by a small promontory on which the line's only ‘above ground’ station is located (Jimei School Village). On the mainland the line meanders through Xinglin and Jimei, calling at Xiamenbei Station before the Yannei terminus. The current line has 29.9km of revenue route (24 stations) with 24.7km of underground running. The line takes 49mins to traverse and services run from 0600-2230 with an 8min base headway, using 6-car CRRC Tangshan stock, powered by overhead catenary. The trains are quite unique, having regenerative breaking which is used to power the system and, given the sea-bridge, are built using anti-corrosive materials.

AMRT, who operate the Metro, have clearly undertaken much promotional activity and the city is very proud of its new line, not least because it provides a rapid cross-sea connection between Gaoqi and Jimei. On the city streets there is signage to the stations and the street entrances immediately provide a clue to the two redeeming features of the system - its high spec/quality and its uniformity. The street entrances have lift access (this is a fully accessible system) and an upward curving roof of Minnan Red and smart grey supports. Stairs and escalators lead to the ticket hall. This space is modelled on the standard layout in China. A broad rectangular space with central access via stairs, lift and escalator to the platforms. At the ends of the space lie the security area, Customer Service Centre (with plentiful hard-copy information), stylish ticket barriers and, along the end walls are banks of ticket machines. These machines are very stylish and modern and dispense blue tokens (fares are distance based at 2-6 Yuan). The side walls have advertisements but also dynamic LCD screens with station location information, train times etc. It is very useful to have this at entrance level and it is the first time I have seen such dynamic screens which changes information on a timed basis. The colour scheme of the walls and pillars at both levels is a very pale brown and this works well with the Minnan Red (Burnt Orange) of the line designator. As it is approaching Lunar New Year, the station halls are also decked with red lanterns. Whilst the pillars and station furnishings make the space a little encumbered, the quality of the fixtures and finish are impressive.

This continues at platform level where uniformity prevails. All stations have island platforms, full screens with tinted glass, crowned with white panelling and strip maps. On reaching the platform level, directional signage is clear and there are vertical directional strip maps on pillars and a smart, back-lit, schematic map on the end walls. The pillars and stair walls have English and calligraphic station names as is now the norm in China. There are RTI screens and platform staff watching over train movements and ensuring passenger safety. These staff are dressed in smart uniforms, males wearing a tie and females wearing smart uniforms akin to airline cabin crew. At Jimei School Village the smart theme continues although there is a pitched ceiling here and the ticket hall leads directly to street level. The view from the end of the platform to the south is impressive as you look along the line as it crosses the inlet.

On the train the theme of quality continues. The pale interior is interrupted by the metallic seats and orange end plates, as well as the orange grab handles (which are too low). Ceiling panel lighting is also tasteful with small squares of lights rather than blaring fluorescence. The LCD displays have high quality animations on how to use the system (in 8 steps – amazing to watch) and lots of promotional, slow-motion footage of engineers, controllers, station staff ensuring the smooth and safe journey. Whilst many systems in China and other parts of Asia have this material, it is the quality that stands out. The electronic and audio information is in Mandarin (Dialect) and English (very high quality correct English) and there are impressive dynamic strip maps above doors and scrolling electronic information at the ends of carriages. Externally, the trains have a black and white frontage, with smart ‘V’-shaped lighting around the front screen. The sides are white with orange strip below the windows. The ride is smooth and fast, and station dwell times are not overly excessive. Passenger numbers are not high, even at peak times, but the route does get crowded around Jimei and on the island, at Gaoqi (for the airport), and especially between Lucuo and Lianban.

In summary, apart from the wonderful journey across the sea in the middle of the line, the system itself doesn’t have any ‘stand out’ features and there are few differentiated design elements. Despite this uniformity, the quality of the finish, both at the stations and on trains is very striking and it is this that makes the system jump out. A very impressive Metro.