The 1104km Beijing and Tianjin Intercity Rail Network aims to bring all regional and prefecture-level cities as well as numerous smaller towns within 30-60 minutes of Beijing and Tianjin.
The project encompasses eight lines:
- Beijing - Bazhou (78km)
- Beijing - Tangshan (149km)
- Beijing to Tianjin Binhai New Area (98km)
- Chongli Railway (67km)
- Lanfang - Zhuozhou (65km)
- Capital Airport - Beijing New Airport via Tongzhou, Yizhuang and Langfang (160km)
- Ring Line Langfang - Pinggu section (88km)
- Gu’an - Baoding (106km)
- Beijing - Shijiazhuang (293km)
The project will be implemented by China Railway Corporation and is due to be completed by 2020. The network is part of the so-called Jing-Jin-Ji plan to develop the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan region, which is currently home to around 110 million people. When it is completed, the megacity will cover a region of around 212,000km2.
The NDRC calls for the use of an “innovative finance model to explore diversified investment channels,” although it does not give any further details of how the private sector could be involved in the project.
