The Beijing–Zhangjiakou intercity railway, also known as the Jingzhang intercity railway, Jingzhang high speed railway, Jingzhang section of Beijing-Baotou PDL, is a

high-speed railway High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, line ...

between

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

and

Zhangjiakou Zhangjiakou (; ; ) also known as Kalgan and by several other names, is a prefecture-level city in northwestern Hebei province in Northern China, bordering Beijing to the southeast, Inner Mongolia to the north and west, and Shanxi to the south ...

Hebei Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, an ...

province,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. The line was opened on 30 December 2019, and is the world's first driverless high speed railway, shortening the traveling time from Beijing to Zhangjiakou from 3 hours 7 minutes to 47 minutes. It forms part of both the

Beijing–Lanzhou corridor The Beijing–Lanzhou corridor is a high-speed rail corridor running from Beijing through Hohhot and Yinchuan to Lanzhou. It was announced in 2016 as part of the "eight verticals and eight horizontals" railway network plan. Sections Refere ...

and the Beijing–Zhangjiakou–Datong–Taiyuan branch of the

Beijing–Kunming corridor The Beijing–Kunming corridor is a high-speed rail corridor running from Beijing to Kunming in Yunnan Province. The main route passes from Beijing through Xiong'an, Xinzhou, Taiyuan, Xi'an and Chengdu before reaching Kunming. Apart from the ma ...

. The main line has 10 stations. The Chongli Branch has two more stations, Zhaochuan South (reserved station) and

Taizicheng Taizicheng () is a village in Sitaizui (), Chongli District of Zhangjiakou in the northwest of Hebei Province, China. Its name means "City of the Crown Prince", and archaeological excavations carried out between May and November 2017 uncovered ...

. The Yanqing branch has another station, Yanqing railway station. The main line and the Chongli branch opened on December 30, 2019. The Yanqing branch opened on December 1, 2020. This route has a length of 173.947 kilometers of double tracked high speed rail, with a maximum speed of between Badaling West block post and Donghuayuan North. However, within urban Beijing in the south of Changping station, the maximum speed is restricted to , respectively. The rest of the line has a maximum speed of . The railway was originally scheduled to start construction in 2009. However, because the Ministry of Railways adjusted the high-speed rail construction program, this was postponed until 2014. This railway connects with the

Zhangjiakou–Hohhot high-speed railway The Zhangjiakou-Hohhot high-speed railway is a high-speed railway located in China. It connects Hohhot, the capital city of Inner Mongolia, to Zhangjiakou in Hebei province. The line has a length of 286 km as a double-tracked passenger dedicat ...

and

Datong–Zhangjiakou high-speed railway The Datong–Zhangjiakou high-speed railway, also known as the Dazhang passenger dedicated line () is a high-speed railway between Zhangjiakou in Hebei province in the east and Datong in Shanxi province in the west. The total length of the main l ...

in Zhangjiakou.

Route description

CR400BF-C-5144 at Chengjiayao (20200307133707)

Leading north from

Beijing North railway station Beijingbei (Beijing North) railway station (), formerly known as Xizhimen railway station (), is a railway station in Beijing. It was built in 1905 as one of the original stations on the Jingzhang railway (part of the old Beijing–Baotou railw ...

the line passes the stations of Qinghe, Shahe and Changping. It enters a tunnel under the

Great Wall The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand Li (unit), ''li'' wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against Eurasian noma ...

Badaling Badaling () is the site of the most visited section of the Great Wall of China, approximately northwest of Beijing's city center, in Badaling Town, Yanqing District (within Beijing municipality). The portion of the wall running through the ...

and arriving at

Badaling Great Wall railway station Badaling Great Wall railway station (), also translated as Badalingchangcheng railway station, is a railway station in Badaling scenic area, Yanqing District, Beijing. The station hall started construction on to build an underground high-speed ...

, avoiding the famous switchback, zigzag conventional railway line. North of this, a branch from the tunnel connects to Yanqing in preparation for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games venues there. After entering Hebei province, there is a station at Donghuayuan North and the line runs next to the Beijing-Zhangjiakou highway across the Guanting Reservoir before arriving at the stations at

Huailai Huailai () is a county in northwestern Hebei province, People's Republic of China, under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Zhangjiakou. Huailai County is a center for grape wine production, with the China Great Wall Wine Company ...

, Xiahuayuan North and Xuanhua North before terminating at the existing Zhangjiakou railway station. The total length of this project was 173.947 kilometres, of which 70.42 kilometres is in

and 103.527 kilometres is in

Hebei Province Hebei or , (; alternately Hopeh) is a northern province of China. Hebei is China's sixth most populous province, with over 75 million people. Shijiazhuang is the capital city. The province is 96% Han Chinese, 3% Manchu, 0.8% Hui, and 0 ...

. The project had an estimated investment cost of 23.62 billion Yuan. Construction of the unit was carried out by the "Beijing-Zhangjiakou Intercity Railway Limited", a company incorporated in November 7, 2013. Registered capital of 100 million yuan. Shareholders are in this company are the Beijing Railway Bureau (60.02%), Beijing Infrastructure Investment Co. Ltd. (formerly the Beijing Subway Group Co., Ltd.) (32.42%) and Zhangjiakou Winton Holdings Limited with 7.56% of total shares.

Stations

Main Line

Yanqing Branch

Yanqing branch opened on December 1, 2020.

Chongli Branch

Also known as "Chongli railway" or "Winter Olympics Branch". The Chongli branch opened in December 2019 from to . A 16-km extension from to opened on 6 January 2022. The section from Taizicheng to Chongli is also part of the future Taizicheng-Xilinhot railway.

2022 Winter Olympic Games

Mock-up of Beijing-Zhangjiakou CR400BF (20181223150600)

The Beijing-Zhangjiakou intercity railway is considered a crucial and vital link between all three venue clusters for the

2022 Winter Olympics The 2022 Winter Olympics (2022年冬季奥林匹克运动会), officially called the XXIV Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Beijing 2022 (2022), was an international winter multi-sport event held from 4 to 20 February 2022 in Beij ...

to be held in

. The urban area of Beijing will host most of the indoor skating,

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

and curling events plus the opening and closing ceremonies.

Yanqing District Yanqing District (), formerly known as Yanqing County before 2015, is a district of the municipality of Beijing located northwest of the city proper of Beijing. The district consists of 3 subdistricts, 11 towns and 4 townships, and borders th ...

, a suburban district of Beijing, will host Alpine skiing plus the

luge A luge is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds supine (face up) and feet-first. A luger steers by using the calf muscles to flex the sled's runners or by exerting opposite shoulder pressure to the seat. Racing sleds weigh for s ...

and

bobsleigh Bobsleigh or bobsled is a team winter sport that involves making timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Feder ...

, a city in

Province, will host Nordic skiing,

snowboarding Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympi ...

and freestyle skiing. This railway places all venues within one hour of each other.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beijing-Zhangjiakou Intercity Railway High-speed railway lines in China Rail transport in Beijing Railway lines opened in 2019 Zhangjiakou