The announcement that the satellite city of Zhuozhou, Hebei (N China) just southwest of Beijing will get an 16-car one-stop direct High Speed service to Beijing West (Beijingxi) Railway Station, to start on Monday, 18 July 2022 as the 06:23 “early bird” commuter service, underscores the importance of commuter and regional rail for China.
In a 21 June 2022 circular of the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission, upwards of 3,000 km of new intercity and regional railways, mostly focused on major urban centres around Northern China (Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei), as well as the Yangtze River Delta and Guangzhou-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, with the “dual cities” of Chengdu and Chongqing also mentioned.
The goal is to ensure no more than 2-hour commutes. Government statistics claim an urbanisation in Mainland China of around 63.89% by late 2020. With two residents in three living in urban hubs, the importance of getting rail access is more important than ever.
Although urban rail solutions (such as metro/subway systems and trams) were not mentioned, they constitute an important part of the Chinese rail transport system, as by late 2020, the mainland had already a total of over 7,000 km across the many dozens of networks in major cities.