Chongqing - Cities across China are turning metro stations into places to work out, eat, study, and even get married, while Chongqing is building a "rail-plus" lifestyle around its vast network.

A community canteen inside a Suzhou metro station. (Photo/CCTV News)

What can you do at a metro station besides catch a train? Across China, the answer is growing fast.

From fitness to marriage registration

In Guangzhou, an unused transfer passage at Pazhou Station has been turned into a gym covering more than 10,000 square meters, with over 300 machines, a boxing area, and table tennis and pickleball courts. The area is packed with internet companies and young office workers. Membership costs 99 yuan (about 15 USD) for the first month and 199 yuan after that. Tianhe Park Station has also opened a pickleball center and a tennis practice area, free to try during the trial period.

In Shenzhen, Gangxiabei Station has added badminton, pickleball, billiards, and table tennis facilities that can be booked online. Covering about 224,900 square meters, it is China's largest single rail transit project and a hub where five lines meet. Its dome, known as the "Eye of Shenzhen," and a transparent glass tunnel where passengers can watch trains pass overhead have made it a popular photo spot.

A leisure space inside a Chengdu metro station. (Photo/CCTV News)

In Chengdu, a station serving the Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital, which handles more than 100,000 transfers a day, has opened a shared space for dining, shopping and resting. Visitors can sit down while they wait for test results.

In Suzhou, community canteens have moved underground. The canteen at Guangji South Road Station, which opened in March last year as China's first in a metro station, draws crowds at mealtimes, and some people get off the train just for breakfast. A second canteen near the Humble Administrator's Garden and Suzhou Museum opened this March and serves more than 50 lunch dishes, including small portions so tourists can sample local specialties. At peak times, lines can stretch for more than 30 minutes.

In Ningbo, the first metro night school in Zhejiang province opened in May, offering affordable classes in makeup, singing, AI tools and Baduanjin, a traditional Chinese exercise. Classes fill up as soon as they open. "You don't have to leave the station or make a special trip," said Chen Zaoting, president of Ningbo Open University. "You can stop and learn something on your way home."

A makeup class at the night school inside a Ningbo metro station. (Photo/CCTV News)

In Hefei, a marriage registry has opened inside Xingfuba Station, whose name means "Happiness Dam." The first in China, it has registered more than 6,000 couples. At another station on Line 3, self-service machines handle social security, medical insurance and property matters, and a new kiosk lets residents renew their ID cards in under 10 minutes. By the end of June 2026, all 183 of Hefei's metro stations were offering public services.

Chongqing's "rail-plus" lifestyle

Chongqing, home to the world's largest rail transit network in a mountainous city, has also been bringing more of daily life into its stations. 

One success story is the station market. What started as a trial of breakfast stalls has grown into more than 100 stalls across several stations selling a wide range of goods. "I used to sell outside my residential complex, and my income was unstable," said Zhou Jing, who sells bread at Xiejiawan Station. "There are so many office workers and students passing through that my bread always sells out."

Some market stalls inside a Chongqing rail transit station. (Photo/Shangyou News)

The city's rail operator has also offered hundreds of shops and larger spaces in stations for convenience stores, coffee shops, supermarkets, offices and sports venues, as well as land next to stations for shopping complexes and other developments. Other projects include park-and-ride lots, a commercial complex at Liziba Station, station convenience stores and a pilot program using spare capacity on Line 10 during off-peak hours to deliver parcels.

"The 'rail-plus' model has endless possibilities," said an official with the city's rail operator. He said stations can combine transit with shopping, offices, family activities, sports, culture, tourism, and health services, so passengers can shop, eat, learn, and run errands during their commute.