With the operation of China’s first passenger transport line running at 350 kilometers per hour since August 1, 2008, the reconstructed Tianjin Station is operating again with a brand-new appearance, indicating that Tianjin Station Traffic Junction Project, China’s largest comprehensive traffic junction project under construction, is officially completed and brought into service.

Tianjin Station Traffic Junction Project, a major component of Beijing-Tianjin Inter-City Express Railway, is a modern comprehensive traffic junction project composed of regular railway, express railway, urban subway, long-distance passenger transport coach, public bus and taxi service. The project consists of five sections, including railway station, station grounds (both front and rear), rear-station-ground public transport center and its auxiliary city transport, and sight-seeing area, totaling an area of 750,000 square meters.

The original main building of the old station has been kept, reconstructed and expanded. The railway yard set-up has changed from the original six platforms and eleven lines to ten platforms and eighteen lines, with daily passenger flow soaring to 80,000 and 680,000 at peak times. Apart from this, a four-kilometer straight-line underground railway will be built between Tianjin Station and West Tianjin Station, effectively connecting Beijing-Tianjin Inter-City Railway and the undergoing Beijing-Shanghai Express Railway, creating a triangle of express railway network.

Originally built in 1888, Tianjin Station was then famous as the “veteran dragon head” station. In 1987, it had the first major reconstruction since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. The next year, at the time of its 100-year construction anniversary, the new Tianjin Station was completed and put into operation. In order to meet the demand of the ever-increasing population commuting between Beijing and Tianjin, Tianjin Station went through another reconstruction and expansion starting from January, 2007.

To provide passengers with as much convenience as possible, an underground passage was built between the front station ground and the rear station ground at Tianjin Station, which is 246 meters in length and 14 meters in width. Through the passage, passengers are able to access the underground floor of the front station ground, the sight-seeing square on the ground, front-station-ground public transport center and the intersection at the underground level of the rear station ground. The passage also links to the station exits, providing easy access to the subway, buses and taxi.

Tianjin Station Traffic Junction Project is playing an important role in lifting the traffic pressure of the area around Tianjin Station, shaping the major traffic network and improving the multi-method transport system of the city. It is also significant in that it offers easy access between Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei City Cluster and the Circum-Bohai Bay Area, opens up economic communication with other areas and promotes the opening-up of Binhai New Area and regional economic development of the Circum-Bohai Bay Area.

The reconstruction and expansion construction of Tianjin Western Railway Station, one of Tianjin’s key railway junction infrastructure construction projects, started on February 4th, 2009, with a total investment of 2.5 billion yuan, and a total area of 180,000 square meters. After completion, four express railways, including Beijing-Tianjin Inter-city Railway, Beijing-Shanghai Railway, Tianjin-Baoding Railway and Tianjin-Qinhuangdao Railway, will meet in the brand-new Tianjin Western Railway Station. The station will become Tianjin’s most modern transport junction, realizing an effective link between different means of transport such as railway, public transport, subway, taxi, and long-distance coach, and a comprehensive modern transport junction that features its express railway transport.

Meanwhile, an underground passage connecting Tianjin Railway Station and Tianjin Western Railway Station, a key construction project, is making progress. After completion, it will create a high-speed passage between the two railway stations, through which passengers can readily commute between the two transport junctions. The underground passage, located in the Haihe River coastal area in downtown Tianjin, is 5.2 kilometers in length. 75 percent of passage is underground tunnel, which is 3.9 kilometers in length. The design is single tunnel with double lanes and comprehensive construction methods are adopted which involve open surface method, cover-and-cut method, shield method and so on. The total investment on the project is 1.3 billion yuan.