The Beijing-Wuhan high-speed railway has raised its speed to 350 km/h, marking another milestone for China’s infrastructure construction. The high-speed railway between Beijing and Wuhan, Hubei province, a section of the Beijing–Guangzhou high-speed rail link, began operating at a standard speed of 350 km/h, up from 310 km/h on June 20, the fifth major railway route to reach that speed, according to China State Railway Group Co, the country's railway operator. The speed upgrade will increase the transport capacity of the route by 7%, equivalent to adding 15 high-speed trains from Beijing to Wuhan every day, or an increase of 18,000 seats, China Railway confirmed.
The Beijing-Wuhan railway section connects 12 high-speed railway lines and traverses the the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, and city clusters in central China and along the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze river, Zheng Pingbiao, Research Fellow with the China Academy of Railway Sciences (CARS) told the Global Times. “These are the key economic development regions in China. Strengthening connectivity between cities in this region is of great significance to the nation’s economic and social development,” Zheng said.
“It will be convenient for people to travel to Songshan mountain in Henan province, Chongqing and other tourist landmarks along the route, which can promote the development of tourism resources of provinces and cities along the line,” Zheng said. With the speed upgrade, the traveling time from Beijing to Wuhan has been reduced to 3 hours and 48 minutes. The traveling time from Beijing to Chongqing will be reduced to 6 hours and 46 minutes and time to cities in northwest China such as Xian and Lanzhou has been reduced to 4 hours 11 minutes and 6 hours 24 minutes respectively. The speed upgrade on the Beijing-Wuhan section of the Beijing-Guangzhou high speed railway followed the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, the Beijing-Tianjin intercity railway, the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway and the Chengdu-Chongqing high-speed railway, which earlier had successfully realized normal operation at 350 km/h, with a total length of nearly 3,200 kilometers.
Beijing Fengtai Railway Station, the largest railway hub in Asia, also resumed operation, another breakthrough in China’s infrastructure construction after four years' renovation and construction. The reconstructed station has a gross floor area of nearly 400,000 square meters. It will be able to accommodate a maximum of 14,000 passengers per hour. The station will serve as the terminal for multiple arterial train lines in China, such as the Beijing-Guangzhou High-speed Railway and Beijing-Kowloon Railway and will serve 120 trains during its preliminary stage of operation. Beijing Fengtai Railway Station was built in 1895 in southern Beijing's Fengtai district. It has been used to provide both passenger and freight services until its closure in 2010. Reconstruction of the station commenced in September 2018, the Global Times reports.
