Dalian City
tramway, light rail, rapid transit line, subway under construction planned monorali

In 1909, the Dalian (formerly Darien) tramway was opened. It is now one of the three tramways left in the PRC, all of which are in Manchuria.  Dalian's three tram lines total 14.7 km.  

After scrapping plans for a subway due to cost, Dalian planned to reconstruct the three original trolley routes and build five new light-rail routes with a total mileage of 500 km to form a radial type of city transport network.  Then in July 2009, comstruction began on the first 58.1 km and three lines of Dailan's new elevated metro The first phase is scheduled to open in 2012.


In November, 2002, 46.2 km of what is now a 61.83 km Rapid Transit Line opened. Most of the 16 station 2 line system is elevated, with some at grade.

The trains, usually driven by a two women crew, are a combination of immaculately maintained rolling stock built in the 1930's, and the new made in China cars as seen above.

A 60 km monorail was approved in 1999. Transco Holdings will design, build and operate the Super Jumbo monorail. But they haven't yet.

Dalian is also home to an underground Walmart and the Dalian Tramway Works.

Trolleybuses and tramways in Dalian
Photos of Dalian tramways
Project details
Photos of new Dailan LRT
Dailan LRT official home page from Dailanbus
Youtube tram video
Youtube tram video 2
Youtube light rail video
Awesome light rail juxtaposition