Beijing Winter Olympics high-speed train design unveiled

CHANGCHUN -- The design of the trains that will run on a new high-speed railway line linking Beijing and Zhangjiakou, co-hosts of the 2022 Winter Olympics, was unveiled in Beijing Tuesday.

The Olympic trains will be even "smarter and greener" than the Fuxing bullet trains, which were put for service on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway in September, according to Chinese railcar maker CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicle Co.

The company said the new trains were designed specifically for the Winter Olympics, featuring a media carriage with WiFi service and TV screens for live broadcasting, an athlete drug testing area and and a storage area for winter sports equipment.

CRRC Changchun also produced subway trains for the Rio Olympics and operated the system smoothly for the duration of the Games last year.

In April 2016, construction began on the world's first ballast track with maximum speed of 350 kph between Beijing and Zhangjiakou. The project is scheduled for completion by the end of 2019 and will shorten the trip between the two cities from the current three hours to just one hour.

Construction also began in 2016 on a 53.2-km extension of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou railway to Hebei's Chongli district, where most of the Olympic skiing events will be held. The trip from Zhangjiakou to Chongli will take 25 minutes.

Beijing and Zhangjiakou won their joint bid to host the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in July 2015.