Xuzhou Metro opened the first 24.2km phase of its northwest-southeast Line 2 on November 28, after four years of work.

The underground line, which runs between North Passenger Station and Xincheng East, has 20 stations including an interchange with Line 1 at Pengcheng Plaza.

Further interchanges are planned with lines 3, 4, 5 , 6 and 7, which are currently in varying stages of planning or construction.

The line is electrified at 1.5kV dc, and services are operated using a fleet of six-section B-type trains manufactured by CRRC. The line offers a one-way end-to-end journey time of approximately 45 minutes, at an average speed of 32km/h.

Services will operate between 06.00 and 22.00 daily, with a peak time interval between trains of around 7min 30s, and an off-peak interval of 8min 45s.

The line is part of a broader plan to construct up to 11 lines in the city, with a total length of 323.1km and a total cost of around Yuan 14.39bn ($US 2.19bn). Xuzhou Metro’s 21.9km Line 1 opened in September 2019, and Line 3 is currently scheduled to open in the first half of 2021.

Guangzhou Line 8

Guangzhou opened a 16.3km extension to Line 8 between Cultural Park and Jiaoxin on November 26.

The 11-station extension nearly doubles the line in length to 33.9km and 26 stations, with an end-to-end journey time of around 57 minutes between Wanshengwai and Jiaoxin.

Two further stations on the new section are to open later, including interchanges with Line 5 at Xicun, and the under-construction Line 11 at Caihongqiao. The extension also includes a new depot at Baiyun Lake, near Tinggang.

With the new extension, daily ridership on Line 8 is initially projected to reach 960,000 passengers per day, growing to 1.65 million per day in the longer term.

A further northern extension across the Liuxi river to Fengxiang Lu has been approved to begin construction before 2023.

Line 8 is operated using a fleet of 80km/h six-car A-type trains built by CRRC, and is electrified at 1.5kV dc.

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