The great metro railway boom has gained speed only recently

The rich world's subways are creaky but others are expanding fast

- David Fickling

On a winter's morning in 1863, a revolution in urban living began. A group of dignitaries boarded a train in Paddington on the north-western fringes of London, and travelled by tunnel six stops to Farringdon, just north of the old heart of the city. The Metropolitan Railway, which you can still ride today as part of the London Underground, was the first to put regular trains on dedicated tracks, cutting through the gridlock that would otherwise plague modern cities.

Over the years, networks sprouted in Paris, New York, Tokyo, Moscow, Hong Kong, Cairo and elsewhere. By 2013, they encompassed over 130 cities, stretching 10,922km—long enough to get you from the equator to the North Pole.

What's most remarkable is what has happened since. Far from slowing down, we've added almost as much track in the past 10 years as was built in the previous 150, hitting 20,453 km in 2023, according to new figures from UITP, an International Association of Public Transport. The great era of metro railways is only just dawning.

That might seem surprising if you live in one of the many developed cities where extensions of old public transport systems are megaprojects that can take decades to finish. Pay a visit to Asia, however, and it's obvious where the growth has been.