Fast rail to link Beijing, Tianjin before Games
By Xin Dingding (China Daily)Updated: 2006-11-27 08:51
Before Olympic tourists benefit from the massive construction of the Beijing
and Tianjin high-speed railway, local residents will be able to enjoy the
ride.
The Beijing-Tianjin inter-city passenger rail line will be
completed and open to traffic before August 2008, when the Beijing Olympic Games
open.
The train will shuttle passengers between the cities in just half
an hour, 45 minutes shorter than the current travel time. The train is designed
to go 200 kilometres per hour (kmp), but can reach speeds of 350 kmp.
The
115-kilometre railway is expected to cost 12.3 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion),
said Ma Zhenhong, a press official with the Tianjin Municipal Communications
Commission in a phone interview.
Earlier reports in the Beijing Times
said the Ministry of Railways and the municipal government of Tianjin have each
poured 2.6 billion yuan (US$325 million) into the project, while Beijing gave
its share by providing requisitioned land and paying for resettlement of
residents. A company has been established to manage the construction
project.
The construction of the passenger rail line started in July this
year. The construction work will finish before the end of next year, and the
railway will be put into service before August 2008.
"The rail line is an
important project to serve the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games," Ma said.
The
Beijing-Tianjin inter-city passenger line is also believed to be the pilot
project of a massive high-speed rail network in China. This will be the
country's first high-standard passenger rail.
With a speed of 300
kilometres per hour, locomotives manufactured by Tangshan Locomotive Plant in
Hebei Province, which uses Germany-based Siemens technology, will be first put
into use on the Beijing-Tianjin inter-city passenger line.
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