World's 10 best metro systems

Public transport is useful. Trains even more so, given that they're physically separate from other traffic. The smooth-running of any city depends heavily on a well-designed, well-maintained metro/rail system.

Guided by the good people at www.citymayors.com, the MetroRail awards and other sources, I've compiled this list of 10 of the best (or most rapidly improving) city metro/rail systems in the world.

10. Copenhagen, Denmark

Small, simple, superlative.

Taking first place in “the Metros,” an international awards program for the mass-transit industry, Copenhagen Metro has a driverless rail system that runs 24 hours a day.

Barely 10 years old, this metro has all the newfangled technology every rail service should have.

But Denmark's a small place. Copenhagen Metro has only two lines, serving 22 stations. So, although it's very swanky, it's not exactly an engineering marvel and frankly, some airports have bigger rail systems than this.

Nevertheless, great work from the engineers, who deserve more than the 42 "likes" on their Facebook page.

9. Singapore

"Most improved odor." Now that is a prize that should be on every award list.
SMRT swept “the Metros” in 2010, taking home awards for Most Energy-Efficient, Most Technologically Innovative, Best Metro in Asia-Pacific and Most-Improved Odor.

After an amalgamation of several transit-service-providers in 2000, SMRT has grown to 600 million passengers per year.

Sadly, Singapore MRT loses ranking thanks to a couple of poorly handled service-interruptions in December, which the company continues to investigate.

It would seem that things are not all hugs and puppies when an internal investigation team is set up to review such incidents and specialists are called in to examine “rail vibrations.”

Having “rail” and “vibrations” in the same sentence doesn't instill confidence in travelers.

8. London, England

London's mayor Boris Johnson about to prove why some music is best kept underground.
The London Tube was the world's first underground metro, opening in 1863 … and they've not done too much since. Only in the current, two-decade-long upgrade plan have air-conditioned carriages been introduced.

But for history, for great underground busking and for something relatively cheap in an expensive city, it's hard to beat.

How they'll cope with the Olympics this year remains to be seen, but at least they've enlarged a few key stations to handle the extra flow.

7. São Paulo, Brazil

3.3 million happy commuters every day.
“This is a metro that is known worldwide for its capacity, safety, security, speed, cleanliness and accessibility, and operates one of the busiest lines in the world,” said Terrapinn, organizer of “The Metros” when awarding São Paulo “Best in the Americas.”

One of the world's billion-passengers-a-year networks, São Paulo Metro has only 74 kilometers of track, leaving one to wonder where they fit the 3.3 million passengers each day.

Bonus points to this metro for giving full police powers to the Metro security guards.

6. Paris, France

When the only complaint is "the doors are manual," you're probably doing a lot right.
The City of Light's metro is unusually dense, with 245 stations on 14 lines, in just 87 square kilometers of the city. Parisians, apparently, don't like to walk.

With over 1.5 billion passengers a year, Paris Metro is in the top-five for busiest city-rail services in the world.

The Paris Metro does lose some points for not having automatically opening doors. This hints at the average age of the carriages and suggests a need to spend a little on upgrades.

Also on CNNGo: Laos' first railway -- 14 kilometers of rust

5. Montreal, Canada

From this view having a world-class metro system looks so easy.
With one of the lowest carbon footprints for metro networks in the world, STM is friendly to both city commuters and the environment. Kudos to the Canadians for not killing whales with trains.

Nudged along in its infancy by the 1967 World's Fair and 1976 Olympics, Montreal has built the largest metro rail system in Canada, though at 69 kilometers, that isn't saying much.

Still, Montreal isn't sitting on its green laurels. Come 2014, 468 shiny new train carriages will be rolled out, replacing more than half of the older cars.

4. Madrid, Spain

Stations big enough for museums.
Madrid has the sixth-longest metro system in the world, at 294 kilometers, but on top of that is another 386 kilometers of suburban rail services.

All up, Madrid's railway serves 1.5 billion passengers each year with 21 lines and 396 stations. Impressive, particularly given that Madrid's population is only 6.5 million.

The underground stations are so huge that they can hold public events, such as the three-day fitness festival in May 2011, attracting 2,600 visitors. One station even contains a 200-square-meter archaeological museum.

If only for the fact that Madrid Metro has 1,656 escalators, the most of any system in the world, this city takes third place.

3. New York City, United States

The subway system that's about more than traveling.
It would be grossly unjust to leave out the city whose subway system, at least, never sleeps. New York City's MTA subway lines are doubled up so all station and express trains can run simultaneously along the same routes, 24 hours a day.

And even when carrying out major work on a line, only a single track is decommissioned, leaving a reduced but still-open service. That's planning.

Extra points must go to New York City for the MTA's Music Under New York program, supporting local musicians, now in its 27th year.

2. Tokyo, Japan

Super efficient. Regarding no-speaking rules, too much so.
Tokyo's rail system is legendary. Super-fast, super-punctual, super-everything. Some 102 train lines, an estimated 14 billion passengers per year. By most measures, they should take first place on this or any other list.

But because you cannot, ever, use your phone while moving, we're going to controversially take them down a peg. We like to talk when commuting, even if only to complain about the excessive cleanliness.

Take a seat in second spot, Tokyo. Mind the gap.

1. Guangzhou, China

From 0 to 1.2 billion passenger in 20 years.
After failing five times in 30 years to create a metro system, Guangzhou's first metro line was finally opened in 1997 and a second line was opened in 2002.

Infrastructure investment exploded in 2004 when the city won the 2010 Asian Games. In the ensuing six years, the council spent RMB 70 billion (US$11 billion) on the metro system.

For going from absolute-zero in 1992 to eight lines, 144 stations, 236 kilometers of track and 1.2 billion passengers in 2008, and for the upcoming 48-minute express-trip to Hong Kong (opening in 2015), Guangzhou gets top billing on this list.