The 3.2km southern extension of the line from Guloudajie to an interchange with the east-west Line 6 at Nanluoguxiang includes two new stations, while a 6.3km three-station northern extension beyond Huilongguan Dongdajie takes the line to an interchange with the Changping suburban metro line at Zhuxinzhuang.
The completion of the two extensions takes the total length of Line 8 to 26.6km. The initial section of the line opened in 2008 as part of the city's preparations for the 2008 summer Olympic Games.
The Beijing metro network is expected to expand by a further 62km in 2014 with the completion of new sections of lines 6, 7, 14, and 15.
According to local press reports, the network carried an average of 8.76 million passengers per day between January and November, quoting figures from the city's transport commission, which show daily traffic peaked at 11.06 million passengers during this period.
