CHENGDU, Nov. 29 (NBD) -- Construction projects of nine railways extending 1100km in total are scheduled to be completed by 2020, including Beijing-Bazhou, Beijing-Tangshan, Langfang-Pinggu section of inter-city railway centering Beijing. The preliminary estimation of investment amounts to 247 billion yuan (about 36 billion U.S. dollars).

In accordance with Outline of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Collaborative Development (Outline), in order to promote traffic integration in this area, an inter-city traffic network with rail transportation at the core should be built.  

On Monday, National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) approved, in principle, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei inter-city railway network proposal submitted jointly by Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei and China Railway Engineering.

Zhao Jian, professor of Beijing Jiaotong University told the NBD report that 36 billion dollars investment for 1100km-long railway means approximately 32 million dollars for each kilometer, which is a huge investment. Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei has already been one of areas with the most dense rail transportation.

According to the Outline, an integrated network will be in place by 2020 to ensure a “one-hour commute” from central areas of Beijing Tianjin, Shijiazhuang to new cities and satellite cities, a “one-hour trip” between Beijing, Tianjin, Baoding and Tangshan, a one hour and half trip between any two adjacent cities in this area.

NDRC mentioned to innovate investing and financing mode and discover diversifying investment channels in the project construction. Besides, capital source should be actualized and annual balance plans be refined, and a feasible loss-compensation solution be formulated.