Line 1 officially started construction on December 29, 2011.[3] The first 11.2 km section, from Nanhu to Nanning East railway station, began operation June 28, 2016.[4] The line opened fully on December 28, 2016. It is 32.1 km long, with 25 stations.[3][5] Line 2 started construction in 2012 and was completed on December 28, 2017.[6][7] Line 3 opened in June 2019. Line 4 opened in November 2020. Line 5 opened on December 16, 2021.[8]
With the opening of Line 5, Nanning became the seventh city in China, and the first in Southern China to open and operate a fully automated subway line.[9]
The final 3.9 km of Phase 1 of Line 4, an extension from Lengtangcun to Longgang adding 3 stations, started construction in August 2022, and will open in 2025.[10]
Line 6 Phase 1 started construction on December 26, 2023. Line 6 Phase 1 is an east-west crosstown line that is 27.9 km long with 21 stations, and will open in 2028.[11]
It is planned that there will be four vertical and four horizontal lines totaling 252 km of subway. The system is projected to carry over 5 million passengers per day.[3][12]