Shanghai’s ever-expanding Metro, will soon connect with neighboring Suzhou, Jiangsu.

Due to open next year, Shanghai’s Line 17 will connect with Line 4 of the Suzhou Metro at the Fenhu Transportation Hub station. Line 17 will act as a western “extension” of Lines 2 and 10, connecting Hongqiao Railway Station with the western suburb of Qingpu. Once complete, Suzhou Metro S1 Line will connect with Huaqiao Station, currently one of the terminus stations of the Shanghai Metro Line 11.

The merging of transportation systems between Shanghai and Suzhou has been a long time coming. When Huaqiao Station was built in 2013 in Kunshan, the Shanghai Metro became the first rapid transit system in China to provide cross-provincial service.

It takes 70 minutes to get from Huaqiao Station to Xujiahui.

Last year, the Shanghai Metro announced a massive expansion that would lay 930 kilometers of new subway track in its downtown core by 2040, and another 930 kilometers in the suburbs. Plans included an unofficial new ring line that would ease traffic on the current ring-shaped Line 4.

Including its Maglev Line, the Shanghai Metro currently has 364 subway stations on 14 subway lines that extend over 588 kilometers throughout the city.