Beijing-Xiongan rail to start construction

Construction will begin in March on an intercity railway linking Beijing and Xiongan New Area in neighboring Hebei province, with the new line expected to be completed in February 2020, according to a report on the project's environmental impact recently released by China Railway Design Corp.

The line begins from the capital's new airport in Daxing district and terminates at Xiongan Railway Station, said the report.

It will allow high-speed trains to run with a maximum operating speed of 350 kilometers per hour.

Another intercity line that starts from Huangcun Railway Station in Beijing will meet the new line at the city's new airport.

The Huangcun-airport line broke ground in April last year and is designed for trains to run at 250 km/h.

Combined, the two lines are called the New Beijing-Xiongan Intercity Railway, which is 92.78 km long and stops at five stations - Huangcun and the capital's new airport in Beijing's Daxing, the Gu'an East Railway Station and Bazhou North Railway Station in Hebei's Langfang, as well as Xiongan Railway Station in Xiongan.

The last three stations are newly planned and will be built during the same period.

With an investment of 33.38 billion yuan ($5.22 billion), the line is being built to support the construction of Xiongan New Area, the report said.

China announced plans in April to establish Xiongan New Area to advance the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

About 100 kilometers southwest of Beijing, it sits at the center of the triangular area formed by Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei's capital Shijiazhuang.

Plans for transportation links between Xiongan with Beijing, Tianjin and cities in Hebei were disclosed earlier this month in a report by China Central Television.

According to the report, four north-south high-speed railway lines and two east-west routes will pass Xiongan. They include the new Beijing-Xiongan Intercity Line and the intercity railway linking Shijiazhuang and Xiongan, which is in the planning stages.

Upon completion of the railways, travel time from Xiongan to Beijing will be reduced to 30 minutes, shaving more than 60 percent off the current time.

Also, the commute by train between Xiongan and Tianjin, Xiongan and Shijiazhuang, as well as Xiongan and Beijing's new airport will be cut to 30, 60 and 20 minutes, respectively