Construction to Begin on Beijing-Bazhou Railway

Construction on a new inter-city railway line connecting Beijing and Bazhou, Hebei province, will start by the end of this year, and is expected to be put into use along with Beijing's new airport, Beijing Daily reported.

The 93-kilometer railway will start at Beijing's west railway station and pass through the Liying and new airport railway stations within Beijing, before continuing to Yongqing west station and stopping at the Bazhou railway station in Hebei's Langfang city.

"The first round of environmental assessments are underway, gathering information on possible problems, measures, and their impact on the environment from the public," said an authority.

The new airport station and nearby section will be underground while most of the rest of the line is aboveground. This makes it easier to transfer to other underground lines.

Construction is expected to take three and a half years to complete, but no exact date has been given.

This line is a part of the railway network of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area, with construction work on other lines running from Beijing to the cities of Zhangjiakou and Tangshan, expected to start this year.

Work on a second inter-city railway line from Beijing to Tianjin could possibly get under way this year as well.