With the Shanghai World Expo just months away, several new lines will be opening up over the next few months! We’re already seen Line 7 enter trial operation, and the next two lines to open are the extension to Line 9, and the brand new Line 11.

The opening date is December 31st, but we thought we’d give you a sneak preview now! Both lines will initially run for trial operation between approximately 9am and 4.30pm.

Line 9 (colored light blue) currently runs from Songjiang in western Shanghai to Yishan Road. The new extension will add 9 new stations, including key interchanges with Line 1 at Xujiahui, Line 7 at Zhaojiabang Road, Line 8 at Lujiabang Road, and a mammoth four-line interchange at Century Avenue where lines 2,4,6, and 9 will now intersect! The station at Madang Road will also be important for the Expo, as you’ll be able to pass through security checks there, then board Line 13 straight into the EXPO Zone!

Line 11 (colored dark brown) starts from Jiangsu Road on Line 2, then heads northwest past Shanghai West Railway Station. Later in 2010, a branch line will open to the Shanghai F1 Circuit and Anting. Initially only the line towards North Jiading will be open.

Check out the map below for the locations of the new lines.

Note, as mentioned above, the opening times are limited initially, and will be extended gradually over the next few months. Also, for changing between lines 1 and 9 at Xujiahui, initially you will need to exit the fare-gates and re-enter. This is free if you have a Shanghai Public Transportation Card.

Expect an update to exploreshanghai.com very soon with the new lines!

The best way to understand our ExploreShanghai Shanghai Metro iPhone app is to see it in action! That’s why we created a video so you can see great features like routeplanning, easy zooming and panning, audio and search.

Check out the video on Youtube (best for outside of China)

… or on Youku (best inside China)

The latest 1.1 update to our ExploreShanghai iPhone app is now live on the iTunes App Store.

The new version includes the recently opened Shanghai Metro Line 7. You can plan routes, check ticket prices and check the times of the first and last trains for all the new stations. We also fixed some bugs which were causing occasional crashes. If you have any feedback on the app, do get in touch!

ExploreShanghai 1.1 is a free update for existing users. You’ll receive a prompt in iTunes to update to the new version. If you haven’t downloaded ExploreShanghai yet, it’s still available at the introductory price of just $0.99. More details and download

Shanghai’s Metro Line 7 opens today! We’ve just pushed live an update to exploreshanghai.com with the new line.

What’s included:

• A nice new orange line!
• Routeplanning information: just drag between each station
• A Metropedia article for every station with info, routes, pictures and maps
• Mandarin pronunciations for every station
• First and last train times for each station (be careful, trains stop just after 4pm initially!)

Update 7th December

• Updated ticket prices for all journeys
• Improved route-planning for Line 7
• Locality maps for every Line 7 stations in Metropedia

Coming soon

• An update to our ExploreShanghai iPhone app is currently in review by Apple

Shanghai Metro 7 will begin trial operation on 5th December. Initially, trains will run between 9am and 4pm, with the operation times increasing over time. Line 7 is a north-south line, from Shanghai University to Huamu Road. Snaking its way through Shanghai’s centre, it adds many new interchange opportunities, including at Jing’an Temple with line 2 and Changshu Road with line 1, before crossing the river into Pudong and intersecting with Longyang Road (for the Maglev).

We’re busy preparing exploreshanghai.com for the launch of the new line. See below for a sneak preview of the new map!

Welcome back from the October break! Community member ‘aeiounm’ alerted me to updated timetables for Shanghai Metro line 3 and line 4, which came into effect on September 28th.

Thanks to two new trains, the time between services during rush-hour is now only 5 minutes (though you still may have to wait a long time off-peak).

First and last train times have also been changed (for the better, mainly!) Trains on Line 3 now run 30-40 minutes later. The last trains now depart at 22:30 and 22:35, arriving at the termini stations at 23:34 and 23:40. Line 4 has also received some love. The last trains now run about 15 minutes later, with the last Line 4 trains reaching Yishan Road at 23:30.

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We’ve just pushed out a change to all our maps (Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong) which dramatically increases speed and responsiveness! You should now find dragging the map around and planning routes faster than ever before.

Sometimes when you’re riding the Shanghai Metro it can be hard to know where in the city you are. By popular demand we’ve added the Huangpu River as a blue line on our interactive Shanghai metro map. Now you’ll never be confused whether you’re in Puxi or Pudong.

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Another late night at the office? Worried you’re going to miss the last train home? We’ve just pushed out an update to all our maps (Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou and Hong Kong) which lets you see at a glance which lines are still open.

Log on to ExploreShanghai at 10:33pm and you’ll see something like this: the greyed out stations are already closed, while the white stations still have train services.

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Today we updated the printable PDF versions of our Shanghai metro map. The new English version includes the new line 8 stations and there’s a new Chinese version. If you have any comments or suggestions for the PDF versions, please get in touch.

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