The city's Subway Line 6 will be a godsend on the rails when it opens late next year (late 2012). Running parallel to, and just north of, Line 1, Line 6 is a three-stage act designed to ultimately extend from Pingguoyuan (which it shares a station with Line 1's westernmost stop) in far western Beijing to Tongzhou District's Dongxiaoying. You might not want to ask where that stop is: it's just two kilometres from the border with neighbouring — gasp — Hebei Province.

Not only that, but Line 6 will also sport 8-car trains (the present-day lines all do 6 cars, except for that overpriced Airport Express, which manages to "make do" with just four cars a train) and express stations. It will also be linked to the future Express Subway Line 1, which you can think of as a second Line 1, without the annoying millions of stops from one end to the other. (Hey, it's called an Express Subway line for a reason!)

Line 6 (Phase 1) works right now have begun in just about all stops except for the newly added Sanlihe station (which is a future crossover point with the north-to-south Line 16, with works on that to begin soon; rail folks also might want to take note that Line 16 with link with the future Beijing Fengtai Railway Station, home to high speed trains in future to Guangzhou and Hong Kong) and the somewhat difficult Hujialou interchange (which presently is only served by Line 10 and is right next to the towering Jingguang Tower; bad pun, we know...)

Phase 2 works have just begun. This is the bit that will bring Line 6 to that outpost just two kilometres short of Hebei. In this stretch, Line 6 will channel underneath Tongzhou, a "sub centre" of Beijing of sorts. It passes underneath Beiguan and Xinhua Street, the main trunk avenue in the district. Works have already begun in the northern stretch by the Beijing Wuzi (Materials) University and Beiguan station and works for the entire Phase 2 will be fully underway by July 2011.

When Phase 1 opens from Haidian Wuluju (by the western 4th Ring Road) through to Caofang (between the eastern 5th and 6th Ring Roads) by late 2012, this will no doubt be massive relief for riders on Lines 1 and Batong. Of course, patience comes to those who wait...!