(Yicai Global) July 2 -- Shanghai has China's largest urban rail transit network but Hangzhou intends to extend its local rail system the most.

Shanghai's train routes, excluding long-distance ones, are 785 kilometers long in total, and Beijing ranks second with 713 km, followed by Guangzhou, Nanjing and Wuhan, data from the China Association of Metros shows. Hangzhou, which ranks 15th, plans to nearly quadruple the length of its routes to 516 km in order to accommodate the 2022 Asian Games.

Chinese cities, including Wenzhou and Jinan, have build 365 km of urban rail transit networks in the first half of this year, raising the nation's total mileage to over 6,100 km. Simultaneously, the length of urban railways in service exceeded 100 km in 18 Chinese cities. 

First-tier cities have reached a good level of subway coverage so they will next focus on developing intercity routes to connect to their surrounding satellite cities, Prof. Hu Gang from Guangzhou's Jinan University told Yicai Global.

Editor: Dou Shicong, Emmi Laine