New Beijing-Zhangjiakou Olympic Train to Open

By Jonty Dixon

Testing on the new high-speed train between Beijing and Zhangjiakou, co-hosts of the 2022 Winter Olympics, will begin next year. Despite the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics just finishing, preparations are in full swing to get the Beijing Winter games up to speed.

Key construction of the extension first began in 2016 and is now nearing its final stages. The train is expected to be finished as early as 2019.

The current train to the ski resort in Hebei takes around three hours, while the new Fuxing bullet train will cut the time to under one hour. The train will be an updated design of the Fuxing class and will aim to be greener and smarter than its predecessor, according to People's Daily.

With Beijing making history by being the first city to host both the Summer and Winter Olympic games, the update of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou line will also serve as a historical moment for China. The line itself was the first independently built railway line in the country way back in 1909.

A fancy new train line isn’t the only bit of preparation happening right now. With Beijing known for dry winter conditions and with fears that the resorts in Hebei may not produce enough snow, the organizing committee have resorted to manmade snow. With at least 98 percent of the snow in Pyeongchang manmade, it seems as though any worries about a lack of natural snow are exaggerated. In fact, there’s a chance that Beijing may be the first games without any natural snow at all.

Organisers have already started hiring foreign experts to help with the creation of the snow as well as with the creation of medal winning athletes. Earlier this year, the Chinese Olympic team hired coaches from around the world to improve the expertise of the local coaches as well as provide direct coaching for the athletes.

READ MORE: Beijing Will Have Enough Snow for the Winter Olympics... Even If It Is Manmade

Last year also saw the grand unveiling of the Beijing 2022 logo.

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