Feasibility study begins for Beijing-Tianjin maglev train service

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 ◆ Feasibility study begins for Beijing-Tianjin maglev train service

Discussions have been held here recently to study the feasibility of building a maglev train railway line between China's capital city of Beijing and the port city of Tianjin in the northern part of the country.

Wu Liangyong, a city-planning specialist from the Beijing-based Tsinghua University, presided over the discussions in which Both Chinese traffic and urban construction specialists and German maglev train specialists participated.

The maglev train project under discussion will help relieve pressure on Beijing transport during the 2008 Olympic Games, the specialists believe.

Sharing air space with Beijing, Tianjin's airport serves as an alternative to the Beijing International Airport, with the distance between the two totaling 137 kilometers.

Last year the Beijing airport accommodated 24 million passengers, and the figure is expected to top 27 million this year, surpassing its designed capacity by a large margin.

Beijing's need to accommodate the great influx of Olympics travelers has led some specialists to believe that using the Tianjin airport as a second airport is the most economical and convenient way to address the issue.

Tianjin Airport has to date opened scores of domestic and international flight routes and established an air cargo transport center for the nation.

Specialists held that it will be the best choice to build a maglev train railway between Beijing and Tianjin to connect their airports.

"Studying the feasibility of building a such train railway aims to help promote communication between the two cities and speed up a coordinated development of local economies," Wu said.

Born in 1969 in Germany, the maglev train reportedly uses high speed, energy efficiency and less noise, causing almost no pollution to the environment.