Remember Line 8, that Beijing Subway line that you rode due north to Olympic events? It's about to be expanded for the third time and go way, way down south.
Currently serving stations from Zhuxinzhuang in the north, which connects to Changping, and Nanluogu Xiang in the south, which intersects with Line 6, phase three of construction will add 15 new stations to the south, and connect it with Lines 1, 2, 7, 10, and 14, and serve popular areas including the National Art Museum, Wangfujing, Zhushikou, and Qianmen, before heading to more residential parts of the city.
The new stations will open in 2017, although state-run media reports did not specify when. A further southern extension to the line is planned and should open within four years, the reports said.
Three new subway lines – 3, 12, and 17, the last of which includes a Sanlitun station – began construction in 2015. Phase two of Line 14, which extended the line past Jintai Lu all the way to Beijing South Railway Station, and the separate Changping extension, also began service in 2015.