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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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. (more…)

We’ve just released the 2.5 update to all our iPhone metro maps! That’s five new updates for Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Singapore and Hong Kong!

Here’s what’s new!

Google Maps – By popular demand, you can now see a street map for every station. This is really handy if you’re arriving at a metro station and want to see which exit to take, or how to reach your destination. Just tap on any station, then tap Street map (requires a 3G or Wifi internet connection).

New interface – We’ve simplified the interface for browsing stations and planning routes. Just tap any station to see this standard popup. You can switch between Metro map, Street map and Train times (for first/last train times). You can also listen to the name of the station as an audio clip by tapping the station name, or start planning a route.

Easy routeplanning – Planning routes is now even simpler. Tap on the first station, and choose “Plan route”. Then tap on your destination. The route, time and price will be immediately shown. We’ve also updated the Singapore app prices for the new distance-based fares.

Version 2.5 is a FREE update for all existing users. Download our apps today!

By popular request, we’ll soon be including integrated Google Maps in our iPhone metro map apps for Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Singapore. Just tap on any station and choose “Street map” to see the area around the selected station. You can pan and zoom the map to see more.

If you’ve got any suggestions on this or other features, do get in touch!

Stay tuned for updates to all our apps to support Google maps over the next few weeks.

We’re delighted to announce new PDF maps for all our ExploreMetro cities! Now you can print out and carry a handy A4 printout for Beijing, Guangzhou, Hong Kong and Singapore, besides the Shanghai map we already offered.

To download the maps, just click on the “PDF map” tab on any of our city sites, or follow the download links below. The PDF maps are available in both English and Chinese versions. If you have any feedback or spot any mistakes on the map, do get in touch!

Direct links:

• Shanghai – English, Chinese
• Beijing – English, Chinese
• Guangzhou – English, Chinese
• Hong Kong – English, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional
• Singapore – English, Chinese

Our really big sale ends on Sunday at midnight. It’s your last chance to pick up a copy of Explore Beijing or Explore Guangzhou for free. Already thousands of people have downloaded our apps, helping propel Explore Beijing to the top 4 Travel apps in China! Help us reach number 1 by Sunday! Download our apps!