New rail plan adds 58 links to Hong Kong

China implemented a new railway operating plan on Wednesday that links an additional 58 stations on high-speed lines on the Chinese mainland to Hong Kong, the national railway operator said.

China State Railway Group said the plan includes a direct high-speed train service from northern China's Tianjin West station to West Kowloon station in Hong Kong, with a stopover at Baiyangdian station in the Xiongan New Area.

That means people in Xiongan will be able to take a high-speed train directly to Hong Kong, rather than having to travel to Beijing or Tianjin first.

Xiongan New Area, covering Xiongxian, Rongcheng and Anxin counties in Hebei province, is about 100 kilometers south of Beijing. A new area of "national significance" following the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and Shanghai Pudong New Area, it is expected to assume some noncapital functions from Beijing and become a digital smart city driven by innovation.

The plan will also shorten the travel time on high-speed trips between some cities, with, for example, trains traveling from Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, to Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province, in just seven hours, one hour and 42 minutes less than before.

The country's railway freight capacity has also been enhanced, with two additional domestic lines added to the China-Europe freight train service, taking the total to 70.