The evening paper has it on the front page: Subway Line 9 is going right underneath the east pool at Yuyuantan, or what some call the "8 - 1 Lake" (figure of 8 plus a huge 1 — just lying at an angle).

Line 9 is going underneath Yuyuantan to the tune of 17 metres underneath the surface. That's going to be pretty deep — and just to be on the safe side, city authorities emptied all that water out from the eastern side. Just to be safe...

Meanwhile in other Subway-related news, much of the new Line 10 transfers have been pretty been confirmed as "real easy". We will only see underground Long Marches being part of life at the Gongzhufen Lines 1 / 10 interchange. Lines 9 and 10 will meet at Liuliqiao, and if you're used to the interchange at Huixinxijie Nankou, this is your cue.

Elsewhere (and we thank you for reading this far), Lines 1 South, 2 and 2 East in Nanjing will open for good on May 28, 2010 (with trial runs allowing passengers in being a fact of life as early as May 15). Tianjin's Lines 2, 3 and 9, by the way, will be a bit behind schedule — but they'll open in early 2011.

Still beats Shanghai's Line 10 — that liar of a Metro line — which is hopelessly delayed until after the world expo...