Monthly Archives: September 2010

Guangzhou Metro Line 2, 4 and 8 open!

From September 25th, the new and improved Guangzhou Metro Line 2, Line 4 and Line 8 opened!

Our online map at www.exploregz.com has been updated with the new stations on Line 2 and Line 4, and the stations which have become part of the new Line 8. You can see how much time it will take to travel between two stations and the recommended route by dragging between two stations. Ticket price information is coming soon! There’s also a Metropedia page for each new station, such as Huangcun.

Line 3 extension and the Guangfo Line are expected to open in October.

Here’s a map of the lines and stations open so far, click to enlarge:

An update to our Guangzhou Metro iPhone app has been submitted to Apple and should be available in the next 7-10 days.

Countdown to the Guangzhou Asian Games: Guangzhou Metro Line 4

All this week we’re profiling the new lines and extensions being added to the Guangzhou Metro before the Asian Games.

Today, Line 4! Although Line 4 is only being extended by two stations to the north, it’s a key line for the Asian Games. Why? Huangcun Station, the new northern terminus is located at Guangdong Olympic Stadium, the main stadium for the games. Haibang Station, further south is the location of the Asian Games Village where athletes will reside.

Countdown to the Guangzhou Asian Games: Guangfo Metro

All this week we’re profiling the new lines and extensions being added to the Guangzhou Metro before the Asian Games.

Today, the Guangfo Metro. Billed as China’s first intercity metro line, it will link Guangzhou with Foshan, a city of 1.1 million people (with 5.4 million in the surrounding areas).

The new line starts at Xilang on Guangzhou Metro Line 1 and heads south and west into Foshan, terminating at Kuiqi Lu. Later plans will link the line to a future Foshan Metro, as well as further extensions within Guangzhou.

Countdown to the Guangzhou Asian Games: Guangzhou Metro Line 3

All this week we’re profiling the new lines and extensions being added to the Guangzhou Metro before the Asian Games.

Line 3 is a branched line, running north-south. The new northern extension, predicted to open on October 16, 2010, will extend the line to Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport, providing a metro link to the airport for the first time. An official announcement has not yet been made, it’s possible that Airport North station will open at a later date. Another new key station will be Jiahewanggang, providing interchange with Metro Line 2.

Countdown to the Guangzhou Asian Games: Guangzhou Metro Line 2

All this week we’re profiling the new lines and extensions being added to the Guangzhou Metro before the Asian Games.

Today, Line 2: currently an L-shaped line, some of its current stations will shortly become part of Line 8, while new extensions will be added to the north and south.

To the north, the line heads through Baiyun District towards a new interchange with Line 3 at Jiahewanggang. This will provide easy access to the new Line 3 Airport link. Beware of Xiao-gang station (萧岗站): it’s NOT the same as Xiaogang station (晓港站), currently on line 2 and soon to be on Line 8!

To the south, the line heads through Haizhu and Panyu districts to the new Guangzhou South Railway Station. High-speed trains to Wuhan, Shenzhen and Hong Kong depart from here.

Choose your preferred language in our ExploreMetro apps

The ExploreMetro iPhone apps auto-detect your iPhone/iPod’s system language and show either English or Chinese labels. That’s useful for most people, but sometimes you’d prefer to be able to choose the language manually.

We’re pleased to announce that by popular demand, the next version of all the ExploreMetro apps will allow you to select your language manually via the Settings.app. See this Youtube video to see how simple it is to change.

Countdown to the Guangzhou Asian Games: Guangzhou Metro Line 8

All this week we’re profiling the new lines and extensions being added to the Guangzhou Metro before the Asian Games.

First up is Line 8. It runs from Wanshengwei in the east to Fenghuang Xincun in the west, entirely within the central Haizhu district. The eastern part of Line 8 is currently part of Line 2. Once Line 8 opens on September 28th 25th, the stations will become part of Line 8, as well as four new stations: Changgang (the new interchange with Line 2), Baogang Dadao, Shayuan and Fenghuang Xincun.

Line 8 will interchange with Line 2 at Changgang, Line 3 at Kecun and Line 4 at Wanshengwei.

Update: WarrenLOL provides some useful info in the comments:

the last 3 station in the west (Baogang Dadao, Shayuan and Fenghuang Xincun) won’t operate on schedule because the government got involved in the dispute (noise from the cooling tower) with the nearby residents, so we are not sure whether these 3 stations will open before the Asian Games

Tomorrow we’ll profile the extensions to Line 2!

Countdown to the Guangzhou Asian Games

From November 12 to November 27, 2010, Guangzhou will stage the 16th Asian Games, a multi-sport Olympic-style event for the sportsmen and women of Asia. As well as the standard sports like athletics, swimming and football, there are some quirkier additions like Go, Kabbadi, Twenty20 cricket and dragon boat racing.

7,987 athletes and almost 4,500 officials from 45 countries are already registered for the games, but how are they and the spectators going to reach the venues? Guangzhou’s transportation networks have been receiving significant investment before the Games. The Guangzhou Metro network has several new lines and extensions opening, and over the next few days we’ll be looking at the new lines and stations in detail. Continue reading →