1001 Smart Cities
🇨🇳 Nanjing

Metro Line 7 GoA4 Automated Operation

🤖 AI-generated summary · ◆ 15 sourced claims · 🔎 Last verified

This overview was generated with AI from the public sources listed below and checked against them before publication. It has not had a complete human fact-check — treat it as a starting point and follow the sources.

15 sourced claims on this page, none individually verified yet — turn on “Sources in the text” to see each one.

How this atlas is made · What “last verified” means · What “source-checked” means · The full record behind this page

✎ Corrected 21 Aug 2026 3 claims added. What changed →

Jiangsu's first metro line designed to run without a driver opened in three pieces over three Decembers. Nanjing's own wording never quite closes the loop: the trains have the capability to run driverless.

Outcome🔄 Ongoing
Evidence📰 Media
what does this mean?The strongest source is press reporting; no primary evaluation was located. It grades who did the looking — not how well the project went. All four grades →
Run byNanjing Metro Group Co., Ltd. (南京地铁集团有限公司), Line 7 branch
Scale🏙️ City-wide

Part of 1001 Smart Cities — 1,167 documented projects · 🏙️ 8 more in Nanjing · 🚌 Public transport guide · 🚲 Mobility projects

Line 7 is the first Nanjing metro line designed to GoA4, the highest automation grade: trains wake themselves, leave the depot, run the line, berth, open and close doors and return to sleep on a timetable. It opened in three sections — north on 28 December 2022, south in 2023, centre on 28 December 2024 — completing a 35.49 km, 27-station line. CRRC Puzhen built 53 trainsets certified to SIL4 for their onboard safety functions, with obstacle and derailment detection and active smoke detection.

Live 📅 since 2022

📊 Impact

The north section alone averaged 50,200 riders a day by the end of 2023; with the south section open, the line set a single-day record of 153,000 on 3 April 2024. Completing it took the Nanjing network from about 473 km and 226 stations to about 484 km and 234 stations across 13 lines.

🎓 Lesson

Read the operator's grammar. Every Nanjing and Jiangsu announcement says the trains 具备无须配置司机的能力 — have the capability to be run without a driver — which is a statement about the design, not about who is aboard. Pre-opening reports said plainly that a driver would still ride and watch the console, and no accessible source names a date on which staff stopped riding. A GoA4 line is a purchase; unattended operation is a decision taken later, if at all.

🚲 MobilityPublic transportAutonomous vehiclesSensors & IoT

Sources

↗ Xinhua Daily / Jiangsu provincial party news site (state media)Full-line opening, 29 Dec 2024. Carries the careful wording: 『作为江苏省首条全自动无人驾驶列车线路』 and 『具备无须配置司机、完全自动化运行的能力』 — capability, not practice. Also 『12月28日13时30分…全线实现贯通运营』, 『7号线全线长约35.5公里』, 『设27个车站』, 『南京地铁运营总里程由近473公里增加至近484公里』.
↗ Nanjing Release / The Paper (municipal information account)26 Dec 2024. Source for the length 『全长35.49公里』, 『全线27个车站』 and the ridership figures: 『截至2023年底，北段的日均客流量已经达到5.02万人次。今年4月3日，7号线(南段+北段)更是创下了15.3万人次的单日最高客运量』. Repeats the same capability wording.
↗ CRRC Nanjing Puzhen (manufacturer)16 Jan 2025. Builder's own account: 53 trainsets, B-type, 80 km/h, SIL4 to EN50128/EN50129, automatic fault self-recovery, obstacle and derailment detection, active smoke detection, 50-minute fire-rated cabinets. Operator-grade evidence, used only for the hardware description.
↗ Yangtze Evening Post via China Metro (media)Pre-construction report on the Line 7 feasibility review. The passage that matters for the driverless test: 『很多乘客以为，既然列车全自动了，列车上就没有司机了…其实真相是，地铁列车上仍然还有司机，不过司机从繁忙的工作中彻底解放出来了，专注于监测地铁列车的正常运行』 — there is still a driver aboard, watching the console.
↗ CRI Jiangsu (state media)24 Apr 2018, construction start. 『这条线路将实现真正意义的"无人驾驶"，司机只需在驾驶室监控列车运行』 — the driver only monitors. Note the sources disagree on whether there is a cab at all: this 2018 piece says 驾驶室, while the delivered trains have an open console. Neither states when, or whether, staff stopped riding.
Show your work What this page rests on and what it can’t tell you · all 15 claims with their sources · the forensic record

Evidence Passport · public beta 15 addressable claims, 5 source dossiers, one permanent baseline. The passport is unreviewed — an AI-assisted structural migration, not a human or expert endorsement. Every revision keeps a permanent copy under revision history.

Inspect the claims, one by one — verbatim text, sources and caveats for all 15

The text below is copied verbatim from the published record. Each claim names the source dossiers that carry it; caveats stay attached to the claim they qualify.

Claim 1 clm-fd3e359264d5c561 quantitative
the first Nanjing metro line designed to GoA4, the highest automation grade
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Nanjing Release states 『地铁7号线还是全市首条按全自动运行GOA4等级要求进行设计的线路』 — Line 7 is the city's first line designed to the GoA4 fully automatic operation grade. CRI's 2018 construction-start report says the same in older wording: 『地铁7号线是南京市首条全自动无人驾驶的智能化地铁线路』. The Xinhua Daily piece widens the claim to the province: 『作为江苏省首条全自动无人驾驶列车线路』.
Caveat
That GoA4 is the highest grade in the IEC 62290 / UITP scale is standard industry definition; none of these sources states it.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Nanjing Release / The Paper (municipal information account)
  2. CRI Jiangsu (state media)
Claim 2 clm-236563796a7aeb25 descriptive
trains wake themselves, leave the depot, run the line, berth, open and close doors and return to sleep on a timetable
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Nanjing Release lists the automated cycle: 『可以自动实现列车唤醒出库、载客运营、回库休眠等功能』 — waking, leaving the depot, carrying passengers, returning to the depot to sleep. The Yangtze Evening Post adds the timetable and the berthing and door steps: 『全自动运行就是按照时刻表运营，完成站间行驶、到站精准停车、自动开闭车门、自动发车离站、自动折返，完成运营后自动清客、自动回库、自动休眠』.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Nanjing Release / The Paper (municipal information account)
  2. Yangtze Evening Post via China Metro (media)
Claim 3 clm-4fd1469fb3db90ea quantitative
It opened in three sections — north on 28 December 2022
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Nanjing Release dates the north section exactly: 『2022年12月28日，南京地铁7号线北段正式开通运营』 — on 28 December 2022 the north section of Nanjing Metro Line 7 formally entered service. The same piece describes the line as having opened in stages (『自分段开通以来』) and the middle section as the one still to come.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Nanjing Release / The Paper (municipal information account)
Claim 4 clm-de0fbab3856e9df6 quantitative
south in 2023
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Only indirectly. Nanjing Release, published 26 December 2024, quotes a resident saying 『公司附近的南段线路去年就通了』 — the south section near my office opened last year, i.e. in 2023 — and its ridership passage treats 南段 as in service through 2024. The source establishes the year, not the day.
Caveat
The only findable statement dates the south section to 2023 ('公司附近的南段线路去年就通了', 26 December 2024), not to a specific day.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Nanjing Release / The Paper (municipal information account)
Claim 5 clm-96ccc2a5d4a95dcf quantitative
centre on 28 December 2024
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Xinhua Daily, filed 29 December 2024, reports 『12月28日13时30分，南京地铁7号线中段开通初期运营，全线实现贯通运营』 — at 13:30 on 28 December the middle section entered initial operation and the whole line became through-running. CRRC Puzhen repeats the date: 『12月28日，中车浦镇造南京地铁7号线项目中段顺利开通运营』.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Xinhua Daily / Jiangsu provincial party news site (state media)
  2. CRRC Nanjing Puzhen (manufacturer)
Claim 6 clm-44854b2de0ea792f quantitative
completing a 35.49 km, 27-station line
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Nanjing Release gives both figures precisely: 『全长35.49公里』 and 『全线27个车站，其中13座换乘站』. Xinhua Daily rounds the length — 『7号线全线长约35.5公里，设27个车站』 — and CRRC Puzhen confirms the station count independently: 『全线共设27座车站』.
Caveat
Xinhua Daily's 『约35.5公里』 is the same figure rounded, not a competing measurement.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Nanjing Release / The Paper (municipal information account)
  2. Xinhua Daily / Jiangsu provincial party news site (state media)
  3. CRRC Nanjing Puzhen (manufacturer)
Claim 7 clm-2e873269e83b930e quantitative
CRRC Puzhen built 53 trainsets
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The builder's own account states the fleet size and type: 『作为南京市全自动驾驶地铁线路，南京地铁7号线车辆采用80km/h速度等级B型车，整条线路配备53列车』 — 53 trainsets of the 80 km/h B-type, on a line CRRC Nanjing Puzhen describes as its own project (『中车浦镇造南京地铁7号线』). The six-car formation is not stated anywhere on the page.
Caveat
CRRC confirms 53 trains and the B-type/80 km/h design but nowhere states cars per train.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. CRRC Nanjing Puzhen (manufacturer)
Claim 8 clm-a44a515c966bcb5f quantitative
certified to SIL4 for their onboard safety functions, with obstacle and derailment detection and active smoke detection
Published field
snippet · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
All three from the builder's train dossier: 『安全功能遵循EN50128和EN50129标准，最高安全完整性等级达SIL4，并通过必维审核』; 『列车两端转向架设置了障碍物和脱轨检测装置，可在紧急情况下触发立即停车』 — obstacle and derailment detectors on the bogies at both ends, triggering an immediate stop; 『火灾报警系统采用主动吸气式检测，能在火灾发生极早期进行报警』 — an active aspirating fire-detection system.
Caveat
CRRC's SIL4 statement (EN 50128/50129, Bureau Veritas) covers the vehicles' onboard safety functions, not the line's signalling system.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. CRRC Nanjing Puzhen (manufacturer)
Claim 9 clm-7096ce117bfab43c quantitative
The north section alone averaged 50,200 riders a day by the end of 2023
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Nanjing Release: 『截至2023年底，北段的日均客流量已经达到5.02万人次』 — by the end of 2023 the north section's average daily ridership had reached 50,200 trips. 5.02万人次 = 50,200.
Caveat
人次 counts trips, not distinct riders; the entry's 'riders a day' follows the common English rendering.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Nanjing Release / The Paper (municipal information account)
Claim 10 clm-1c4911b17876923e quantitative
the line set a single-day record of 153,000 on 3 April 2024
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Nanjing Release: 『今年4月3日，7号线(南段+北段)更是创下了15.3万人次的单日最高客运量』 — on 3 April of this year Line 7 (south plus north sections) set its highest single-day volume at 153,000 trips. The piece is dated 26 December 2024, so 今年 is 2024.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Nanjing Release / The Paper (municipal information account)
Claim 11 clm-2936282d90c6b9bf quantitative
from about 473 km and 226 stations to about 484 km and 234 stations
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Xinhua Daily reports the network step in the same sentence as the through-running: 『至此，南京地铁运营总里程由近473公里增加至近484公里，车站总数由226座增加至234座』 — total operating length rose from nearly 473 km to nearly 484 km, station count from 226 to 234.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Xinhua Daily / Jiangsu provincial party news site (state media)
Claim 12 clm-87b3eaad6afab752 quantitative
across 13 lines
Published field
impact · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Nanjing Release: 『截至目前，南京地铁运营线路已有13条，运营里程达473公里，在全国率先实现了行政区轨道交通的全覆盖』 — 13 lines in operation. The 473 km in the same sentence matches the pre-completion figure in the Xinhua Daily report, so both describe the network before the middle section opened.
Caveat
No claim-specific caveat recorded

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Nanjing Release / The Paper (municipal information account)
Claim 13 clm-70a4ba426fa6bd3e descriptive
Every Nanjing and Jiangsu announcement says the trains 具备无须配置司机的能力 — have the capability to be run without a driver — which is a statement about the design, not about who is aboard
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
Both announcements use the capability construction verbatim. Xinhua Daily (provincial): 『作为江苏省首条全自动无人驾驶列车线路，7号线具备无须配置司机、完全自动化运行的能力』. Nanjing Release (municipal): 『列车具备无须配置司机、完全自动化运行的能力』. 具备…的能力 = possesses the capability; neither sentence says a driver is absent.
Caveat
Only these two announcements were checked, both from the full-line opening; 'every' is the entry's generalisation.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Xinhua Daily / Jiangsu provincial party news site (state media)
  2. Nanjing Release / The Paper (municipal information account)
Claim 14 clm-37a833c06f31eb44 descriptive
Pre-opening reports said plainly that a driver would still ride and watch the console
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
The Yangtze Evening Post's 2016 feasibility-review report is explicit: 『很多乘客以为，既然列车全自动了，列车上就没有司机了…其实真相是，地铁列车上仍然还有司机，不过司机从繁忙的工作中彻底解放出来了，专注于监测地铁列车的正常运行，需要盯着操作台上的仪器、按钮，还有显示屏等设备』 — there is still a driver aboard, freed from the work but watching the instruments, buttons and screens on the console. CRI's 2018 construction-start report says the same: 『这条线路将实现真正意义的“无人驾驶”，司机只需在驾驶室监控列车运行』.
Caveat
The two differ on where the driver sits: the Yangtze Evening Post says 操作台 (console), CRI says 驾驶室 (driving cab). Both are pre-opening reports — 2016 and 2018 — and neither describes the trains as delivered.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Yangtze Evening Post via China Metro (media)
  2. CRI Jiangsu (state media)
Claim 15 clm-542d91fd236a7de3 descriptive
no accessible source names a date on which staff stopped riding
Published field
lesson · verbatim
Mapping
mapped · no interpretation or interpolation added by this passport
What the mapping says
An absence, checked against the four sources that speak to staffing. The two opening announcements (Xinhua Daily, Nanjing Release) describe only the capability — 『具备无须配置司机、完全自动化运行的能力』 — and give no staffing date. The two pre-opening reports place a person aboard (『地铁列车上仍然还有司机』; 『司机只需在驾驶室监控列车运行』) and name no date on which that would end. No sentence in any of the four states when, or whether, unattended operation began.
Caveat
A negative finding over this entry's source list only. It does not establish that no such announcement exists elsewhere.

Sources carrying this claim

  1. Xinhua Daily / Jiangsu provincial party news site (state media)
  2. Nanjing Release / The Paper (municipal information account)
  3. Yangtze Evening Post via China Metro (media)
  4. CRI Jiangsu (state media)
Forensic record — source dossiers, gaps, hashes and the exact revision this page renders

This layer records what is known about each source, what is still missing, and the exact snapshot this page is rendering. A missing date, archive or hash stays visible as missing.

unreviewed Revision 2026-08-21-unsourced-text-correction effective 2026-08-06 · created 2026-08-21

Awaiting operator and domain-expert review; publication of this revision implies neither.

sha256:13cf01ab920a014296bc3e36943cacbb5cde7efb27865449d14aa3eafb07d477
Revision history → Permanent version link → Machine-readable record → Evidence Constitution →
15
of 15 claims mapped
5
source dossiers
3
publication dates recorded
0
archives linked
0
exact locators
0
content captures hashed

Governance facts carried by the record

Operator
Nanjing Metro Group Co., Ltd. (南京地铁集团有限公司), Line 7 branch
Actor types
city-government
Funding model
public
Funding description
Not recorded
Cost
Not recorded
Ownership
Not recorded
Decision rights
Not recorded
Exit conditions
Not recorded

5 source dossiers

Xinhua Daily / Jiangsu provincial party news site (state media) zgjssw.gov.cn · 5 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-4293e0ea0726e505
Publisher
Name not classified · zgjssw.gov.cn
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-06
Dossier created
2026-08-21
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Full-line opening, 29 Dec 2024. Carries the careful wording: 『作为江苏省首条全自动无人驾驶列车线路』 and 『具备无须配置司机、完全自动化运行的能力』 — capability, not practice. Also 『12月28日13时30分…全线实现贯通运营』, 『7号线全线长约35.5公里』, 『设27个车站』, 『南京地铁运营总里程由近473公里增加至近484公里』.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Nanjing Release / The Paper (municipal information account) m.thepaper.cn · 10 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-76db3d459f766e70
Publisher
Name not classified · m.thepaper.cn
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2024-12-26
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-06
Dossier created
2026-08-21
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

26 Dec 2024. Source for the length 『全长35.49公里』, 『全线27个车站』 and the ridership figures: 『截至2023年底，北段的日均客流量已经达到5.02万人次。今年4月3日，7号线(南段+北段)更是创下了15.3万人次的单日最高客运量』. Repeats the same capability wording.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
CRRC Nanjing Puzhen (manufacturer) crrcgc.cc · 4 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-e69476f1897b14d3
Publisher
Name not classified · crrcgc.cc
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2025-01-16
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-06
Dossier created
2026-08-21
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

16 Jan 2025. Builder's own account: 53 trainsets, B-type, 80 km/h, SIL4 to EN50128/EN50129, automatic fault self-recovery, obstacle and derailment detection, active smoke detection, 50-minute fire-rated cabinets. Operator-grade evidence, used only for the hardware description.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Yangtze Evening Post via China Metro (media) chinametro.net · 3 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-2ea70905767e1819
Publisher
Name not classified · chinametro.net
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
Not recorded
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-06
Dossier created
2026-08-21
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

Pre-construction report on the Line 7 feasibility review. The passage that matters for the driverless test: 『很多乘客以为，既然列车全自动了，列车上就没有司机了…其实真相是，地铁列车上仍然还有司机，不过司机从繁忙的工作中彻底解放出来了，专注于监测地铁列车的正常运行』 — there is still a driver aboard, watching the console.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
CRI Jiangsu (state media) js.cri.cn · 3 linked claims

Open original source ↗

Stable source ID
src-4ddabd7d8463f7f2
Publisher
Name not classified · js.cri.cn
Type / language
web-page · language not classified
Published
2018-04-24
Updated
Not recorded
Source last checked
No source-level check date
Record last verified
2026-08-06
Dossier created
2026-08-21
Retrieved copy
No local capture recorded
Archive
No archived copy linked
Content hash
No captured content hash
Locator
Open the recorded source note

24 Apr 2018, construction start. 『这条线路将实现真正意义的"无人驾驶"，司机只需在驾驶室监控列车运行』 — the driver only monitors. Note the sources disagree on whether there is a cab at all: this 2018 piece says 驾驶室, while the delivered trains have an open console. Neither states when, or whether, staff stopped riding.

Descriptive only — not page/paragraph exact
Claims linked
Known limits of this passport
  • Publisher names and source languages have not yet been classified; domains are recorded without guessing.
  • Existing source notes are descriptive locators, not page- or paragraph-exact citations.
  • A missing archive, publication date or content hash is shown as null rather than inferred.
  • The project-level evidence grade ranks the strongest source in the entry; it is not a truth score for every claim.

Continue exploring

Compare this project

🇨🇳 Shenzhen Metro's GoA4 Driverless Lines (20 & 14) · Shenzhen Two Chinese GoA4 networks; only one documents the day staff stopped riding. Shenzhen's is certified, Nanjing's is called a capability. 🇮🇳 Delhi Metro's Driverless Lines: Magenta & Pink · New Delhi The same gap elsewhere: Delhi cut the ribbon in 2020 and ran unattended from 2025 — label and practice are different dates. 🇰🇷 Busan Metro Line 4 Driverless Light Metro · Busan Both bought the highest automation grade; in Busan the question of who rides along could not be settled from the sources either.

Explore the wider context

🚦 Asphalt or algorithms📖 CBTC (communications-based train control)📖 Grades of Automation (GoA)📖 Personal rapid transit (PRT)
📎 Cite this project

1001 Smart Cities (2026). “Metro Line 7 GoA4 Automated Operation” — Nanjing, China. The Smart City Atlas. https://1001smartcities.org/projects/nanjing-metro-line7-driverless/ (last verified 2026-08-06). Data: CC BY 4.0.

The underlying data is free to reuse with attribution — see the open data page.

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