On July 15, the full environmental impact report for the Badaling section of the new Beijing-Zhangjiakou Intercity Railway was released. The report states that this section will pass under the Great Wall three times within Beijing's territory (Badaling and Shuiguan). Tunnel blasting, train vibrations, and the impact of the railway line on the landscape have become public concerns.

Railway line to be built in the Great Wall scenic area; tunnels to use "no-portal entrances"

The new Badaling section of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Intercity Railway has a main line length of 15.44 km, and the line will mainly pass through the core scenic area and peripheral protection zone of the Badaling-Ming Tombs National Scenic Area by tunnel.

The environmental report explains these issues. The proposed project will pass through two core scenic areas: the Juyongguan Great Wall Scenic Area and the Badaling Great Wall Scenic Area. Within the scenic areas, the project will pass under the Great Wall at two underground locations. The Beijing-Zhangjiakou railway project will affect the landscape and visual environment of scenic resources through above-ground structures such as bridges, stations, inclined shafts, and roadbeds.

Among them, the large bridge will adopt a "landscape-enhancing, not landscape-spoiling" approach, striving for simplicity in design. For the tunnel portal engineering design, it is recommended to use no-portal entrances that are highly compatible with the surrounding environment. Such portals appear to blend naturally with the surrounding mountains. At the same time, the height of the station set within the Badaling Great Wall Scenic Area will not exceed 6 meters.

In addition, the bridges where the railway line emerges above ground within the scenic area are all more than 2 km away from scenic spots, and the exposed length is less than 300 meters. The assessment results show that the impact on the landscape and visual environment of the Badaling and Juyongguan scenic areas is relatively small.

Tunnel blasting to use special explosives

Over 98% of the Badaling section of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Intercity Railway consists of bridges and tunnels. The proposed project will pass under the Badaling Great Wall twice and under the Shuiguan Great Wall once. In order to protect the historical and cultural heritage of the Great Wall and scientifically assess the impact of Beijing-Zhangjiakou train operations on the Great Wall, relevant units have previously carried out special assessment studies and formed the "Assessment Report on the Impact of the New Beijing-Zhangjiakou Intercity Railway on the Great Wall."

In response to the main impact on the Great Wall during construction being tunnel blasting, relevant departments have conducted tests. Currently, the maximum allowable vibration for blasting construction in the underpass area has been determined.

Both theoretical and simulation calculations show that the project's vibration level is lower than that of the existing Beijing-Baotou line, and the vibration velocity is far below the allowable standard, so it will not affect the main structure safety of the Great Wall.

It is recommended that the excavation blasting vibration of the tunnel crossing the Great Wall be strictly controlled. The report specifically makes recommendations for tunnel construction. Drilling and blasting excavation should be adopted. For tunnel portal blasting operations, special explosives with low noise can be used, and small-scale blasting operations should be adopted to reduce the impact of portal blasting operations on the environment.

Train operations to use "seamless tracks" to reduce vibration

The environmental impact assessment report specifically mentions that the environmental impact during the operation period of the project will come from the line, stations, etc. The main environmental impact caused by train operations is: the impact of vibrations caused by train operation on residential houses and cultural relics above the tunnel.

It is understood that in the near-term plan for the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Intercity Railway, after opening, the daily train pairing will be 91 pairs, and in the long term it can reach 130 pairs. The design speed target is 250 km/h, and all trains will be EMUs.

The report shows that the design unit has taken this issue into consideration. In order to reduce the intensity of train vibration sources and mitigate the impact of train operation vibrations on cultural relics, the track structure inside the tunnel will be designed with ballastless track. The rails will also use cross-section seamless tracks. This design can reduce the vibration generated by railway operations and minimize the vibration impact on ancient buildings and ancient city walls within the entire protection area.

Expected annual passenger transport revenue of 120 million yuan

The project will start construction in 2014 and be completed in 2018. The total estimated investment is 2,896.62 million yuan. Among them, environmental protection investment is about 36.907 million yuan, accounting for about 1.3% of the total project investment.

It is understood that the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway will halve the time for tourists to reach Badaling. Currently, Bus 919 departs from Deshengmen; if there is no traffic jam on the Beijing-Tibet Expressway, a regular bus takes 2 hours, and an air-conditioned express takes 1 hour and 10 minutes. After the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Intercity Railway opens, the travel time will be halved. The report also calculates the revenue of the new Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. The passenger transport price of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway is 0.35 yuan/person-km, and the predicted one-way passenger turnover in 2025 is 343.6944 million person-km. The calculable passenger transport benefit is 120.293 million yuan/year.

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Badaling section of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Intercity Railway

The Badaling section of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway project runs from the entrance of the Juyongguan Tunnel to the exit of the Badaling Tunnel, with a total length of 15.44 km. This section includes 2 mountain tunnels with a total length of 15.054 km, of which the longest tunnel, the new Badaling Tunnel, is 12,010 meters long. One medium bridge, Jiuxianmiao Bridge, is set up. One new Badaling Great Wall Station is built as an underground station. The railway grade is a passenger dedicated line, with a design speed target of 250 km/h, using EMUs.

Beijing-Zhangjiakou Intercity Railway

In 2010, the project proposal for the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway passenger dedicated line was approved by the National Development and Reform Commission. The Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway passenger dedicated line has a total length of about 174 km and a total estimated investment of 31.176 billion yuan. Its completion and operation will shorten the passenger travel time between Beijing and Zhangjiakou from the current fastest more than 3 hours to about 1 hour. The new Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway passenger dedicated line starts from Beijing North Station, passes through Haidian, Changping, Yanqing, and Huailai and Xuanhua in Hebei Province, to Zhangjiakou. The target speed for passenger trains is 250 km/h.

After approval, the project has not started construction. This year, the news that Beijing and Zhangjiakou in Hebei Province are jointly bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics has once again put the construction of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou passenger dedicated line on the agenda.