Line 5’s 17.9km Shiqiaopu - Tiaodeng southern section runs via Shixin Road, Bashan, Fengxi Road, Chongqing West, Huayan Temple, Huacheng Road, Banshan, Zhongliangshan, Jinjian Road, and the Huayan Centre, serving 12 stations. The new section interchanges with Line 1 at Shiqiaopu, the Loop Line at Chongqing West Station, and the planned Line 18 at Tiaodeng. The completion of Line 5’s southern section offers improved transport connections for residents of the Jiulongpo and Dadukou districts and is expected to stimulate economic growth. Constuction of Line 5 began in December 2018, and the opening of the southern section follows the launch of the first 17km part of the line’s northern section, between the Expo Garden Centre and Dalongshan in December 2017. A 2.5km Dalongshan - Dashiba extension to the northern section opened in December 2018. A central Dashiba - Shiqiaopu section, which will eventually connect the two existing sections, is still under construction. Loop Line Chongqing Metro also opened the final 7.3km Erlang - Chongqing Library section of the city’s 51km Loop Line, completing the city’s first circle line. The section adds four new stations at Fengmingshan, Shangqiao, Chongqing West and Hualong, and interchanges with Line 5 and conventional rail services at Chongqing West. The Loop Line, which began construction in 2013, connects the Jiulongpo, Shapingba, Yubei, Jiangbei, Nan'an, Liangjiang New districts, with a full circuit journey time of 1h 30min, serving 33 stations. Chongqing previously opened a 0.8km extension to Line 1 between Xiaoshizi and Chaotianmen, and a 13.8km extension to Line 6 from Yuelai to Shaheba on December 31. For detailed data on metro projects from around the world, subscribe to IRJ Pro.