According to the information released by China Railway, a new national railway train diagram will be implemented starting January 26. Following this adjustment, some commuter trains to Beijing and its surrounding areas will see an increase in both frequency and number of stops.

[Photo via Beijing Fabu]

The new diagram suggests that the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region will add four additional EMU trains between Beijing West Railway Station and Tianjin West Railway Station, with stops at Baoding East Railway Station, Baiyangdian Railway Station, Daxing Airport Railway Station, and other stations along the route. Schedules for the four EMU trains operating between Xiong'an New Area and Beijing during the morning and evening rush hours will be optimized. An additional 15 stops will also be added for commuter services at stations including Yanjiao, Shunyi West Railway Station, Huairou South Railway Station, and Langfang Railway Station, further improving convenience for commuters traveling within and around Beijing.

The connectivity between the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and Northeast China as well as Northwest China is also being strengthened. Under the new timetable, four additional G-series high-speed EMU trains will run between Changbai Mountain and Beijing Chaoyang Railway Station. Besides, two K-series conventional-speed passenger trains will be added for the routes from Jiagedaqi to Tianjin and from Hailar to Hohhot, respectively. With the newly opened Xi'an-Yan'an High-Speed Railway, the railway authorities have arranged 22 EMU trains to operate from Yan'an to destinations such as Beijing West Railway Station, Shanghai Hongqiao Railway Station, Guangzhou Railway Station, and Chengdu East Railway Station. This is the first time that high-speed EMU trains have been launched between Yan'an and Beijing, with the fastest travel time from Yan'an to Beijing West Railway Station shortened to 5 hours and 42 minutes.

Two benchmark EMU trains will be arranged to run between Yinchuan and Beijing North Railway Station, reducing the shortest travel time between the two cities to 6 hours and 22 minutes. In addition, 32 EMU trains will be put into operation on routes from major stations in western Inner Mongolia to Qinghe Railway Station, Taiyuan South Railway Station, Xi’an North Railway Station, Lanzhou West Railway Station, Xining Railway Station, and other destinations.

The quality of passenger services will be further improved. The Railway Travel Code has been applied to all EMU trains, and online meal ordering services are available at 94 stations, allowing passengers to order food specialties and upgrade their seats simply by scanning a code. Quiet Carriage services have been extended to 97 EMU trains. The pilot program for high-speed rail pet shipping service now covers 43 stations and 57 trains, while the "Light Travel" service is available at 30 stations on a trial basis.

  (Source: The BMC News)