Transport · Metro · Chongqing
Chongqing Metro
重庆轨道交通. A 12-line network crossing Chongqing's hillside terrain with monorail sections, including the famous Liziba building-penetrating station on Line 2.
About this metro system
Chongqing Rail Transit is one of the more architecturally interesting urban transit systems in China, forced by the city's extreme topography into engineering solutions not required in the flat metropolitan areas elsewhere. Chongqing is built on a series of ridges between the Yangtze and Jialing rivers, with dramatic elevation changes across the urban area; some metro lines run elevated on viaducts at heights equivalent to eight or nine storeys, providing city-wide views from what are effectively above-ground metro trains.
Line 2 is the most photographed: at Liziba station, the monorail line enters and exits through the middle floors of an occupied residential tower — a pragmatic solution to a site constraint that has become a tourist attraction in its own right, with visitors arriving specifically to photograph the train passing through the building.
The network serves Jiefangbei (the commercial core), the Yangtze River cruise departure points, the Hong Ya Cave riverside complex, the central railway stations, and the main residential and business districts spread across the city's multiple ridges. Chongqing's topology makes the metro less straightforward to plan journeys on than flat-city equivalents, but the official app and English signage make it manageable.
Foreigner notes
English signage on all lines. The network is notable for its engineering: several lines run elevated through the city's hilly terrain, and Line 2 famously passes through the upper floors of a residential building at Liziba station. The system integrates monorail and conventional metro technology.
Peak hours
07:30–09:00 and 17:30–19:30 weekdays