On Friday, China launched a new high-speed railway linking Beijing and Harbin (the capital of Heilongjiang Province, Northeast China).
On the morning of January 22, a new section of the specified highway was opened with a length of 192 km. Taking into account the previously launched two sections, the total length of the new high-speed line is 1,198 km.
The new railway line provides a closer connection between the Chinese capital and the provinces of Liaoning, Jilin and Heilongjiang in northeastern China.
The new line, with a design speed of 350 kilometers per hour, is expected to reduce travel time from Beijing to Harbin to about 5 hours, more than an hour and a half faster than the fastest route previously.
The first section of the high-speed railway linking the cities of Shenyang (the capital of Liaoning province) and Harbin was launched in 2012. And its second section, connecting the cities of Shenyang and Chengde, was opened in 2018.
Three sets of Fuxing bullet trains, capable of operating at temperatures up to minus 40 degrees Celsius, have been commissioned for the first time on the trains running on the Beijing-Harbin line.
The route is an important part of China's high-speed rail network. The opening of traffic on the entire Beijing-Harbin high-speed rail line means that high-speed rail links between the southern and northern regions of the country are fully operational, said Fan Yijiang, an expert from the State Committee for Development and Reforms of the PRC.
"This will facilitate travel between the northeastern region of the country and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, as well as add meaning to the areas along the routes," Fan Yijiang said.
According to the China State Railway Group, as of the end of 2020, the total length of operational roads within the Chinese railway network was 146.3 thousand km, including 37.9 thousand km of high-speed railways. </p >
