Capital region lays out plan for improved rails, roads

The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has set ambitious goals for improving its integrated transportation network, with plans to extend high-speed railways and build more highways to aid regional growth.

Within five years, 1,500 km of rail will operate in the region, placing it among the highest regional concentrations of railway in the world, said Li Guoyong, inspector of infrastructure construction of National Development and Reform Commission, the national economic planner.

To promote the regional rail system's growth, the three governments and China Railway Corp have together invested 10 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) to form a special company to manage the increasing number of rail projects.