Intercity commute centered around Beijing's new airport further improves

Intercity commute in north China's Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration saw a major upgrade Saturday with two high-speed rail lines connected to Beijing's Daxing International Airport starting operation.

The two lines, one starting from Hebei's Langfang and the other from Gu'an, make travel to the Daxing Airport more convenient for residents in the urban clusters, and further solidifies the relatively new airport's status as a regional transportation hub.

"In the initial stage of operation, up to eight trains will be scheduled every day, all of which are crossrail trains. So travel between the Langfang North Station and the Daxing Airport Station can be reached in 15 minutes at the fastest," said Guo Liuming, China Railway Beijing Group's deputy director of passenger transport department.

The newly-opened railway sections further boosted the connectivity of the region's intercity high-speed rail network. In the meantime, travelers landing at the Daxing Airport will have an even smoother connecting experience. They can get to the Beijing Capital International Airport for a connecting flight by taking the subway or catching an intercity high-speed train.

"In order to strengthen information sharing between the intercity railway Daxing Airport Station and the Daxing Airport, we display real-time train information in front of the terminal. In the future, the Daxing Airport and the railway department will continue to strengthen cooperation and information sharing, to improve the matching of trains and flights in terms of capacity and schedule," said Jiao Yongjie, public area manager of the Beijing Daxing International Airport.

"The density of the railway network in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region continues to increase, forming a high-speed railway network with Beijing and Tianjin as the core hubs, covering all prefecture-level cities in Hebei Province. The operating mileage of high-speed railways in the region has reached 2,669 kilometers. One-hour commute in the capital metropolitan area and the two-hour transportation circle among major cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has basically been formed," said Hou Libo, senior economist of the planning and statistics department of China Railway Beijing Group.

Intercity commute centered around Beijing's new airport further improves

The frequent group visits led by Ma Ying-jeou, former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang, to the mainland have contributed to fostering a warmer atmosphere in cross-Strait relations.

Ma led a group of youth from Taiwan visited Heilongjiang Province in the northwest and Sichuan Province in the southwest from December 18 to 26, marking his third group visit to the mainland in the past two years.

Ahead of the visit, a 94-year-old Anti-Japanese War veteran wrote a sincere letter after learning that Ma would visit the Exhibition Hall of Evidence of Crime Committed by Unit 731 of the Japanese aggressor troops.

In the message, Wang Jitang, the veteran, expressed his support for Ma's commitment to the "1992 Consensus" and the advancement of peaceful cross-Strait relations.

"As a veteran of the War of the Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the history I personally experienced is also a shared pain and struggle for compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are of a same family. We are like relatives. I hope that young friends in Taiwan, like Ma, will treat the mainland as their own home, visit often as if visiting relatives, and frequently engage with each other," Wang said.

Hsiao Hsu-tsen, executive director of the Taiwan-based Ma Ying-jeou Culture and Education Foundation, said he was deeply moved by Wang's sincere wish.

"History must never be forgotten. Through such on-site visits and study, we need to experience and appreciate how our forefathers sacrificed themselves to protect our homeland and defend our country," Hsiao said. When talking about the purpose of the current group visit, Ma emphasized the crucial importance of mutual exchanges between young people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait. He expressed the hope to build a bridge for peace between the two sides which transcends political challenges, and which conveys the shared desire of the people on both sides for communication.

Many people from the both sides of the Taiwan Strait agree that the more tense cross-Strait relations become, the more vital it is to sustain exchanges.

Ma Ying-jeou's frequent group visits to mainland enhance warmth in cross-Strait relations