Objective Currently, intercity railways in metropolitan areas are showing a development trend characterized by independent construction, independent operation, network interconnection, and operational interoperability. In this context, to meet the requirements of cross-regional line interoperability, it is necessary to study suitable operation management modes and frameworks for intercity railways in metropolitan areas from the network level.

Method In the context of interoperability and integrated operation, taking cross-administrative metropolitan intercity railways approved in the Multi-level Rail Transit Planning for Yangtze River Delta Region as the research object, and drawing on the operational experiences of similar projects in China and abroad, combining them with the current situation and characteristics of intercity railway construction and operation development in the Yangtze River Delta, four modes: independent construction and operation for each line, entrusted operation through a municipal-level operation platform, entrusted operation through a provincial regional operation platform, and unified entrusted operation across the Yangtze River Delta, as well as their corresponding frameworks are proposed. A comparative analysis is conducted on their advantages and disadvantages in terms of efficiency of operation management resource utilization, difficulty in cross-line operational coordination, and autonomy of business management.

Result & Conclusion  Establishing an entrusted operation management mode centered on a provincial regional operation platform will achieve higher efficiency in the utilization of operational resources, lower difficulty in cross-line coordination, and clearer delineation of responsibilities in financing, construction, and operational subsidies, relatively suitable for meeting the development needs of metropolitan intercity railways in the Yangtze River Delta.