Suzhou Subway Set to Open on April 28

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By Shane McDonnell

SUZHOU, Apr. 20 – Line 1 of the new Suzhou Subway will open to the public on April 28 with trains running every five minutes from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. on a daily basis.

The new line will stretch 25 kilometers on the east-west axis, with terminal stations at Zhongnan Jie in the Suzhou Industrial Park and Mudu in western Suzhou. The line will serve 24 stations and will take just 45 minutes from end to end.

Ticket prices will range from RMB2 to RMB6 per trip depending on the distance traveled. The Suzhou Tong Card can now also be used for the metro as well as buses and taxis throughout the city.

Line 2 is also under construction and part of the line is due to open in July 2013. This line will initially run from Suzhou Railway Station to Guanji South Road where it will connect with Line 1. Construction on three other lines is also scheduled to begin later this year with a target completion date of around 2020. When finished, Suzhou’s metro system is expected to boast 109 stations and will stretch about 140 kilometers.

Some of the metro stations have recently opened shopping plazas in preparation for the opening of the Suzhou Subway. Xinghai Guangchang on Line 1 has a host of new restaurants, coffee shops, supermarkets and bakeries as well as utility offices where citizens can go to pay their electricity, water and gas bills.

Suzhou’s metro system will also improve the accessibility of the Suzhou Railway Station. Suzhou lies on the Beijing-Shanghai train line and trains depart for Shanghai and Nanjing every 30 minutes on the JingHu high-speed railway line.

Suzhou has two domestic airports – Shuofang and Guangfu – and is in close proximity to Shanghai’s Hongqiao and Pudong international airports and Wuxi’s Sunan airport. Hongqiao International Airport is located 86 kilometers from Suzhou and is accessible by shuttle bus or train, taking 100 minutes by bus and 30 minutes by high speed train.

Suzhou will continue to expand over the next decade. The downtown area will extend out to an area surrounded by highways, and the western boundary line is set to be plotted 1 kilometer further in the direction of Lake Tai.

Dezan Shira & Associates is a boutique professional services firm providing foreign direct investment business advisory, tax, accounting, payroll and due diligence services for multinational clients in China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore and Vietnam. To contact the firm, please email china@dezshira.com, visit our web site at www.dezshira.com, or download our brochure here.

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