Construction of the Beijing-Bazhou high-speed rail line, a key link for the capital's new airport and the Xiongan New Area, started Sunday, the China Railway Group announced.
The passenger line will connect Beijing and Bazhou, 80 kilometers to the south. Bazhou is also adjacent to the Xiongan New Area, the country's emerging development zone. With a design speed of 350 kilometers an hour, the railway will be completed in 2019, said project manager Huo Jianli.
Passengers will be able to transfer between the capital's new airport and the high-speed railway station via an underground stop on the new rail line. The new rail line is also a key part of the Beijing-Kowloon route connecting Beijing and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. By 2019, Hong Kong and Xiongan will be linked by the new railway.
On April 1, China announced the plan to create the New Area, which spans the counties of Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin in Hebei Province, and is home to Baiyangdian, a major wetland in northern China.
Launching the new area is expected to help phase out some non-capital functions from Beijing, explore a new model of optimized development in densely-populated areas, and restructure the urban layout in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
