Category Archives: cities

Pujiang Line delayed until early 2018

The opening of the Pujiang Line in Shanghai has been pushed back to the first quarter of 2018 as more time is needed to test driverless operation.

Some more information about the new line has now been published: it will appear grey on the official metro map, and upon opening, Shendu Highway station, the interchange with Line 8, will be renamed to Pujiang Country Park (浦江郊野公园) after the park of the same name.

Pujiang Country Park

Here’s the updated metro map

Updates to our metro maps online, for Android and for iOS will be available soon!

Shanghai Metro Pujiang Line to open

UPDATE: Looks like we jumped the gun and this line won’t open until early 2018. See our updated blog post for more details

We’re rounding out 2017 with a preview of the new lines expected to open in China before the end of the year. Typically new lines open in the last few days of December, and details about the exact timetables and station details are only announced on opening day.

Today we have a sneak preview of the new Pujiang Line in Shanghai. It’s an unusual line – an automated, driverless rubber-tyred metro line or “automated people mover”, more commonly used to shuttle passengers between airport terminals.

It was originally planned as a southern extension to Line 8, now it is a separate line passengers will transfer to Line 8 at Shendu Highway station.

Updates to our metro maps online, for Android and for iOS are rolling out by the end of the year.

 

Shanghai Metro Line 9 Eastern Extension to open

We’re rounding out 2017 with a preview of the new lines expected to open in China before the end of the year. Typically new lines open in the last few days of December, and details about the exact timetables and station details are only announced on opening day.

Today we have a sneak preview of the Line 9 eastern extension in Shanghai. Line 9, which first opened in 2007, will be extended 9 stops deeper into Pudong from the current terminus at Middle Yanggao Road, terminating at Caolu. There is also a handy interchange with Line 12 at Jinhai Road.

Updates to our metro maps online, for Android and for iOS are rolling out by the end of the year.

 

Shanghai Metro Line 17 to open

We’re rounding out 2017 with a preview of the new lines expected to open in China before the end of the year. Typically new lines open in the last few days of December, and details about the exact timetables and station details are only announced on opening day.

Today we have a sneak preview of the new Line 17 in Shanghai. Line 17 should dramatically improve connectivity in Qingpu District. Line 17 starts at Hongqiao Railway Station before heading west into Qingpu.

There is a stop at famous water town Zhujiajiao, with the terminus of the line at Oriental Land.

View of Zhujiajiao – Will Clayton, CC-BY

Updates to our metro maps online, for Android and for iOS are rolling out by the end of the year.

 

Beijing Subway Yanfang Line to open

We’re rounding out 2017 with a preview of the new lines expected to open in China before the end of the year. Typically new lines open in the last few days of December, and details about the exact timetables and station details are only announced on opening day.

Today we have a sneak preview of the new Yanfang Line in Beijing.

The Yanfang Line is located in the southwest of Beijing in Fangshan District. It will connect with the existing Fangshan Line at Yancun East station.

The terminus of the line at Yanshan is more than 42km from Tian’anmen! As the tendrils of the Beijing Subway snake ever further from the city center, some extremely long routes are possible. For example the shortest journey from Yanshan to Fengbo on Line 15 would take over three hours with five changes!

Updates to our metro maps online, for Android and for iOS are rolling out by the end of the year.

Beijing Subway Xijiao line to open

We’re rounding out 2017 with a preview of the new lines expected to open in China before the end of the year. Typically new lines open in the last few days of December, and details about the exact timetables and station details are only announced on opening day.

Today we have a sneak preview of the new Xijiao Line in Beijing.

Formerly known as the Western Suburban Line, this will be a light rail line located in Haidian District. It will be convenient for tourists, with stops close to the Summer Palace, Botanical Gardens and Xiangshan (Fragrant Hills).

By N509FZ, CC BY-SA 4.0

The Xijiao Line connects to the rest of the network at Line 10’s Bagou station.

Updates to our metro maps online, for Android and for iOS are rolling out by the end of the year.

 

Bangkok Blue Line and Purple Line finally connected

A full year after the MRT Purple Line opened, the 1km ‘missing link’ between the Blue and Purple Line has finally opened in Bangkok. This means passengers can now change trains at Tao Poon, rather than needing to take a shuttle bus and get stuck in traffic.

The change to the metro map is shown below!

We’ve updated our Explore Bangkok maps for iOS, Android and the web with the change – the new versions should automatically update to your device in the next few days!

Tuas West Extension opens in Singapore

The Tuas West Extension has opened in Singapore, adding four new stations on to the Western end of the East-West line. The new stations are Gul Circle, Tuas Crescent, Tuas West Road and Tuas Link.

The 7.5km above-ground extension was first announced in 2011, and will increase connectivity to the Tuas area. Tuas Link station is close to Tuas Checkpoint, for access to the Malaysia–Singapore Second Link.

We’ve updated our online map at www.exploresg.com as well as our Explore Singapore Android app and Explore Singapore iOS app with details of the new stations, first/last train times and journey fares.

Shanghai Metro opens later on Friday and Saturday nights

The Shanghai Metro have announced late night openings on several lines on Friday and Saturday nights. Lines 1, 2, 7, 8, 9, 10 will all open up to an hour later, in many cases staying open past midnight.

We’re updating our metro maps to be able to provide accurate last train times. You can see a sneak preview of this feature below: by default, you’ll see first/last train times for today, but you can quickly toggle to another day of the week.

We’ll be launching this first on Explore Shanghai for iOS, with updates for our Android app and web version coming soon. We’ll also then add updated times for other cities which have different opening times on the weekend, like Explore Singapore.

Subway Line 16 opens in Beijing

The northern section of Line 16 has opened in Beijing, bringing the total number of lines in Beijing to 18, with a total route length of 574km. Line 16 connects Xiyuan on Line 4 with Bei’anhe, in Haidian District. In the future Line 16 will stretch as far as 48 km, from Bei’anhe south to Xiaoyueyuan near Marco Polo Bridge, in Fengtai District.

The first train leaves Bei’anhe at 5:25 and the last train at 22:30, the first train leaves Xiyuan at 6:00 and the last train at 22:55.

Here’s the map of the new stations:

We’ve updated our online map, updates for our Android and iOS apps are coming soon!