The newly opened Long'an Station on Hangzhou Metro Line 9. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

The northern part of Hangzhou Metro Line 9 started operations on Sept 17.

The northern part stretches about 6.2 kilometers and is linked by four stations, namely Qiushan Avenue, Heyu Road, Wuzhou Road, and Long'an. The first train departs from Long'an Station at 6:02 am, with a maximum speed of 80 km per hour.

Operations of the new stations will greatly benefit residents living north of Linping Mountain. It will take only one hour to reach West Lake from Long'an Station, said Ge Guan'ao, a staff member of Long'an Station.

Information about Long'an Station. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

Passengers can also transfer to Metro Line 1 at Coach Center Station or transfer to the Hangzhou-Haining Inter-city Railway at Yuhang Railway Station, he added.

Civic Center Station on the intersection of Hangzhou Metro Lines 7 and 4 was also launched on the same day, giving passengers a shortcut to Hangzhou International Airport.

The entry gate of Civic Center Station. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]

In addition, Hangzhou Metro has announced that all metro lines will run for another 30 minutes on Sept 18 and 21 to serve tourists from other cities. There will also be extra trains running on Sept 19 and 20 depending on the number of tourists in stations.