Workers have completed laying the tracks for intercity
high-speed railway between Beijing and Tianjin on Sunday morning,
the first of its kind in China.
The 200-km rail, starts from the Beijing South Railway Station
in the downtown area and ends at Tianjin Railway Station, passing
through the districts of Yizhuang Industrial Park, Yongle New Town
and?Tianjin's Yangcun, said a spokesman of the railway
project.
Designed for a full speed of 350 kilometers per hour, the
railway will shorten the journey between the two cities from the
current 70 minutes to around 30 minutes.
A maximum of 20 pairs of trains will run on the new rail route
per hour. Starting at an interval of 3 minutes, the trains are
expected to carry up to 18,000 passengers per hour.
At a cost of more than 13.3 billion yuan (about US$1.8 billion),
the project started in July 4, 2005 and will be operational before
the Beijing Olympic Games next August.
According to the blueprint of the Ministry of Railway, intercity
high-speed railway network will be set up in the economic developed
areas, including the Yangtze River Delta, the Bohai Sea Ring area
and the Pearl River Delta, by 2020.
(Xinhua News Agency December 16, 2007)