Good news for Beijing's first subway line extending into Hebei! Nearly half of the stations on Line 22 have achieved the goal of capping their main structures.

The under-construction Beijing Subway Line 22 will achieve "three goals at once"—ending the history of Pinggu District in Beijing having no subway, creating a rapid corridor between the city sub-center and the central city, and delivering passengers from Langfang's "North Three Counties" to Beijing's CBD in half an hour.

Beijing's first subway line entering Hebei covers Langfang's "North Three Counties"

As Beijing's first subway line to "run" into Hebei, Line 22 will have a maximum speed of 160 km/h. According to the plan, the line will connect with 12 subway lines, 2 intercity railways, and 2 suburban railways—16 rail transit lines in total.

Beijing Rail Transit Line 22 (Pinggu Line) is a regional express line spanning Beijing and Hebei Province under the backdrop of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei coordinated development.

The line starts in the west at Dongdaqiao in Chaoyang District and ends in the east at Pinggu New Town, passing through Chaoyang District, Tongzhou District, Sanhe City in Hebei Province, and Pinggu District, linking key functional areas such as the CBD core area, Dingfuzhuang cluster, the city sub-center, Yanjiao in Hebei, and Pinggu New Town.

Starting from Pinggu, the line runs south into the "North Three Counties" and then turns west into Beijing, covering the "North Three Counties" "nearby" while solving the problem of Pinggu District having no subway. Because of the long line and station spacing, Line 22 initially adopted the regional express model, using regional express trains with a speed of 160 km/h. At the time, most Beijing subway lines had maximum speeds of only 80 km/h or 100 km/h.

As coordinated development accelerated, the line's planning scheme was optimized in 2021 to 81.82 kilometers with 21 stations. Among them, the Hebei section increased to 5 stations, and the Chaoyang and Tongzhou sections were further extended, reaching into the CBD area.

Nearly half of the stations have capped their main structures

In 2021, with the cooperation of Beijing and Hebei, Line 22 officially began construction. A relevant official from the Beijing Municipal Development and Reform Commission said that among the 21 stations of the "new version" of Line 22, 12 are transfer stations, and the transfer "density" ranks among the highest of Beijing subway lines.

The biggest feature of a regional express line is "speed." Line 22 uses regional Type D trains, with a maximum speed of 160 km/h on above-ground sections and 120 km/h on underground sections in the future. As a result, the shortest travel times from Government Affairs Center Station, Yanjiao, and Pinggu to Dongdaqiao will be only 23 minutes, 32 minutes, and 55 minutes respectively, greatly improving travel efficiency in the eastern region.

Guangzhuang Station on Line 22 has already been capped

At present, the Beijing Subway Line 22 project has entered the stage of full-scale construction. Of the 22 civil engineering bid sections along the entire line, 19 have mobilized, and 18 have achieved substantive construction start. The earlier-started Guangzhuang Station, Government Affairs Center Station, Government Affairs Center East Station, Machangying Station, Mafang Station, Pinggu Station, Shenwei Street Station, and Chaobai Street Station have completed structural capping. In addition, with Beiguan Station and City Sub-Center Station having their main structures capped through reserved or agent-built arrangements, Line 22 has achieved the goal of capping the main structures of nearly half of its stations.

According to the plan, this year more than half of the station main structures along the entire line will be completed cumulatively, and 49% of the section structures will be completed cumulatively.