The Beijing–Tianjin intercity railway () is a Chinese high-speed railway that runs line between Beijing and Tianjin. Designed for passenger traffic only, the Chinese government built the line to accommodate trains traveling at a maximum speed of , and currently carries CRH high-speed trains running speeds up to since August 2018.
When the line opened on August 1, 2008, it set the record for the fastest conventional train service in the world by top speed, and reduced travel time between the two largest cities in northern China from 70 to 30 minutes.China inaugurates 220 mph fastest rail service in world in time for Olympics A second phase of construction extended this line from the urban area of Tianjin to Yujiapu railway station (now Binhai railway station) in Tianjin's Binhai New Area was opened on September 20, 2015.
The line is projected to approach operating capacity in the first half of 2016. Anticipating this, a second parallel line, the Beijing–Binhai intercity railway, commenced construction on December 29, 2015. It will run from Beijing Sub-Center railway station to Binhai railway station via Baodi and Tianjin Binhai International Airport, along a new route to the northeast of the Beijing–Tianjin ICR.
Route and stations
Beijing to Tianjin
From Beijing South railway station, the line runs in a southeasterly direction, following the Beijing–Tianjin–Tanggu Expressway to Tianjin. It has three intermediate stations at Yizhuang, Yongle (reserved station) and Wuqing. The service has peak speed between cities.
As an intercity line, it will provide train service only between the two metropolitan areas, unlike the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway which will continue beyond Shanghai.
The Beijing–Tianjin intercity railway has a current length of (fare mileage: ), of which roughly is built on viaducts and the last on an embankment. The elevated track ensures level tracks over uneven terrain and eliminates the trains having to slow down to safely navigate through at-grade road crossings.
Extension to Binhai New Area Sometimes known as the Tianjin–Binhai intercity railway, this extension continues southeasterly from Tianjin railway station, following the conventional railway to Tanggu railway station but built on elevated piers with three new stations were to be added. It passes a blockpost at Airport West, through Junliangcheng North railway station to Tanggu railway station before entering a tunnel to an underground station, Yujiapu railway station (now Binhai railway station).
Junctions have been built along the line allowing services to branch off to a new station under Tianjin Binhai International Airport and to Binhai West railway station on the Tianjin–Qinhuangdao high-speed railway. Trial operations of the extension started on August 14, 2015, with an official opening on September 20, 2015. the railway reduced travel times from Beijing South railway station to Binhai railway station to 1 hour 2 minutes and from Tianjin railway station to Binhai railway station to 23 minutes.
Service
These intercity trains are designated by the prefixed "C" (城) followed by four digits, from C2001 to C2298. Of these, C2001–C2198 are non-stop trains from Beijing South to Tianjin. The odd numbers for trains departing from Beijing South and even numbers for those running to Beijing South. Trains numbered C2201–C2268 are trains from Beijing South and Tianjin that stop on the way at Wuqing station. Trains C2271–C2298 run from Beijing South to Tanggu.
The line opened on August 1, 2008, with 47 daily pairs of intercity trains between Beijing South and Tianjin. Since September 14, 2008, 10 more pairs of trains were added, reducing the minimum interval from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. On September 24, 2008, 4 pairs of trains extended to Tanggu along the conventional railway. On September 28, 2008, 2 more pairs of trains were added into service. Frequencies have consistently been increased since to cope with rising demand, reaching 136 pairs of trains operating daily by 2018.
In addition to the intercity service, 13 pairs of trains were diverted to this line from the preexisting Beijing–Shanghai (Jinghu) railway, including trains from Beijing South to Jinan, Qingdao, Shanghai, and Tianjin West. With the opening of the Beijing–Shanghai high-speed railway, these trains have been diverted to the new line.
Tickets Manual ticket windows and automatic ticket machines developed by GDT are installed at each station along the Beijing–Tianjin intercity railroad (including Beijing South Station, Tianjin Station, and Wuqing Station). The vending machines can accept RMB 100, RMB 50, RMB 20, RMB 10, and RMB 5 bills and support payment by bank card. As of June 2009, tickets sold through the vending machines have accounted for 24% of all Beijing–Tianjin intercity train tickets.
On March 7, 2009, the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway launched the "Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway Express Card", which uses a non-contact IC card system and can be recharged repeatedly. The "Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway Express Card" is divided into two types: Ordinary Card and Gold Card. The Ordinary Card is priced at RMB 1,000 and can be used in the second-class compartment of the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway. The Gold Card is priced at RMB 3,000 and allows passengers to travel in the first-class compartment of the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway, with the maximum amount of stored value not exceeding RMB 5,000. As of July 22, 2009, 13,700 Fast pass cards have been sold, and the total number of cardholders is 82,000, with the highest number of cardholders on a single train being 93. On June 1, 2011, the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Fast pass card system was upgraded to match the real-name system of national train tickets, and all cardholders are required to bring their original valid IDs, otherwise they will not be able to enter the station and ride. Since July 22, 2012, the former "Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway Express Card" has been discontinued and the newly introduced "China Railway Silver Pass Card" has replaced the "Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway Express Card".
From June 12, 2011, online railroad ticketing was first tested on the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway. Passengers can pay for their tickets online using bank cards (including debit and credit cards) from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the Agricultural Bank of China, the Bank of China and China Merchants Bank or through the China UnionPay online payment system and can make subsequent ticket changes and refunds. After purchasing a ticket, if passengers use a second-generation ID card, passengers can use their ID card as a travel voucher to check their ticket directly at the entry/exit gates; if passengers use other documents or need reimbursement vouchers, they can exchange their ID card for a paper ticket at the station ticket window or at a sales outlet.
On February 6, 2017, the mayor of Tianjin, Wang Dongfeng, said at the symposium of the central media's "Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Cooperative Development Research Line" interview group that the Beijing–Tianjin intercity railway is expected to implement a monthly ticket system, and from May 1, 2017, in order to facilitate the travel of commuters between Beijing and Tianjin, China Railway Yin Tong Payment Co. "China Railway Beijing–Tianjin Intercity City Discount Card" for frequent commuters of the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway, who can enjoy certain discounts for a certain number of purchases. As of April 30, 2018, a total of 20,160 "Beijing–Tianjin Intercity City Discount Cards" were sold, including 2,911 gold cards and 17,249 silver cards, with a total of 962,600 passengers taking the card.
Technical information The line is the first railway in China to be built for operational speeds above . This railway line allows speeds up to .Beijing – Tianjin elevated line anticipates 350 km/h , Railway Gazette International March 2006 A trip between Beijing and Tianjin takes 30 minutes.Velaro sets Chinese speed record, Railway Gazette International June 27, 2008
High-speed lines
of the line is ballast-free track, using the plate ballast-free track technology imported from the German company Borg. A total of 36,092 pieces of Borg track plates were used on the whole line. In addition, in order to save land use, the Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway uses bridges instead of roads on a large scale, with 87% of the entire line being bridges, with a cumulative length of , including 5 special bridges. Each kilometer of bridge can save of land compared with the traditional roadbed. In addition, soft soil, loose and soft soil areas roadbed design, bridge deformation and foundation settlement control technology are adopted. The railroad track uses the advanced welding process of long steel rails, and the comprehensive inspection shows that the line quality is stable. The expected service life of the ballast-free track is 60 years, while the service life of the main structure of the bridge is up to 100 years, reducing the comprehensive maintenance costs.
Traction power supply
When a high-speed train runs at a speed of , that is, nearly 100 meters per second, there are high requirements for the stability of the current receiving between the catenary and the pantograph, as well as the power supply equipment for electrified railways. The Beijing–Tianjin intercity railway adopts SCADA system for remote monitoring, and for the first time in China adopts a magnesium-copper alloy, small cross-section (), high tension, lightweight simple chain-type belt reinforced wire suspension catenary system. There are 3 traction substations, 4 divisional substations and 2 switching substations along the whole line.
Communication Signal and Dispatch
The Beijing-Tianjin intercity railroad adopts GSM-R railroad digital mobile communication system for the whole line, which realizes mobile voice communication and wireless data transmission; it also uses ETCS-1 level and CTCS-2 level signaling systems, as well as CTCS-3D (China high-speed railroad train control terrestrial digital transmission system) level signaling system, and the minimum departure interval is designed to be 3 minutes. In terms of operation scheduling, Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway applies decentralized self-regulating dispatching centralized system (CTC) to realize centralized dispatching control for trains running on the whole line.
Safety and security
In order to avoid natural disasters affecting the safety of railroad traffic, the whole line of Beijing-Tianjin Intercity Railway has established a disaster prevention and safety monitoring system including wind warning monitoring, earthquake monitoring system and foreign object intrusion monitoring. In addition, the whole railroad line also has a comprehensive grounding system, ballastless track, contact network columns, station platforms, sound barriers, retaining walls are connected to ground.
History
Preliminary preparation