Construction of the Beijing-Tangshan Intercity Railway — an infrastructure project aiming to boost integration of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei cluster — has been making rapid advances, reflected by faster tunneling progress reports from participating State-owned builders.

During a recent media event, China Railway 14th Bureau Group Corp Ltd, a unit of China Railway Construction Corp, said its major tunnel boring machine Jingtong is inching closer to completing its mission — digging the Yunchaojian River Tunnel — which is currently 30 meters underground in Beijing's Tongzhou district.

Taking into account the geological and environmental conditions in the capital city, CR14G's shield machine design team customized the domestically produced super-large diameter Jingtong TBM.

Weighing some 3,200 metric tons, Jingtong is the 1,388th shield machine manufactured by CRCC. For the tunneling project, Jingtong is equipped with a cutter head of 13.3 meters in diameter.

"This project runs parallel to the Beijing-Harbin Railway, with the closest proximity of only 11.7 meters. Ensuring operational safety is extremely important and any mistakes cannot be tolerated," said Sun Lijun, from CR14G, who is in charge of the Beijing-Tangshan Intercity Railway project.

With a total length of about 138 meters, Jingtong, driven by 16 motors, is cutting through soil and rock, extending the tunnel toward the destination in Tongzhou.

According to the State builder, the tunneling work is expected to be completed this month, extending the intercity railway to Beijing's outskirts, a breakthrough in the integrated development of the region.

The Beijing-Tangshan Intercity Railway is a rapid transportation corridor between Beijing and Tangshan. The section from Tangshan to Yanjiao, Hebei province, was opened and put into operation on Dec 30, 2022.

China is banking on massive railway construction to boost regional integrated development. Two sections of railway in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area were put into operation in late May, marking the opening of the longest intercity railway route in the area.

The line, linking cities including Huizhou, Dongguan, Guangzhou, Foshan and Zhaoqing from east to west, is 258 km long with a total of 39 stops for ordinary trains, but fast trains only make 14 stops. The maximum speed of trains is 200 kilometers per hour, while the average interval between trains is 26 minutes.

The nation recorded 360.15 million railway passenger trips in April, up 9.6 percent year-on-year, said the National Railway Administration.

During the first four months, railway passenger trips amounted to 1.37 billion, surging 22.9 percent from a year ago, the administration said.

In April, 407.59 million tons of goods were transported by rail, down 1.9 percent year-on-year.

From January to April, China's railway cargo delivery volume reached 1.65 billion tons, a fall of 1.4 percent year-on-year.

China's fixed-asset investment in railways totaled 184.9 billion yuan ($26.02 billion) during the four-month period, up 10.5 percent year-on-year, the administration said.