Beijing's rail system has seen rising passenger volumes in recent years. In 2024, stations across the city handled 336 million trips in total, averaging about 918,000 passengers per day, according to municipal transport authorities.

Li Xuebin, head of the passenger transport coordination department at the Beijing Municipal Commission of Transport, said before 2020, most rail travel in the capital relied on four major stations — Beijing, Beijing West, Beijing South and Beijing North — all built decades ago within the city's inner districts.

During peak hours, rail traffic at these stations often overlapped with daily commuting flows, placing heavy pressure on surrounding road networks, Li said.

As Beijing moved to relocate noncapital functions and implement national transport planning guidelines, new railway stations were built outside the city's third ring road, including Qinghe Station, Beijing Chaoyang Station and Beijing Fengtai Station.

With the opening of Tongzhou Railway Station in the eastern subcenter, Beijing has formed an eight-station railway hub layout.

Li said all major railway stations and the city's two airports are now connected to the metro, with additional lines under construction to further improve transfers.

Zhu Yuechen, a senior engineer at Beijing Urban Construction Design& Development Group, said the multinodal rail hub system spreads passenger flows across several stations instead of concentrating them in central districts and provides easier access for residents across the city.

The layout also helps ease congestion around older, long-established stations in the urban core, Zhu said.

yangcheng@chinadaily.com.cn