Zhangjiakou Beijing Train: Autonomous Train Travel in Record Time

"Availability is the best ability". This is especially true for professional sports. In times of lack of availability in the face of the Corona pandemic, even a football superstar like Lionel Messi is idle capital from a business point of view.

The situation is similar with sports facilities. Because only when spectators visit the stadiums and arenas does it make sense to invest in projects worth millions - at least from the organizer's point of view.

A high-speed train between the Olympic venues provides the best possible connection to get closer to the goal of filling the halls and stadiums in China for the 2022 Winter Olympics. After the corona pandemic is hopefully over, not only in Beijing, but also in the more remote places like Zhangjiakou, Taizicheng and Yaqing.

The "Bullet Train" shortens the journey time on the approximately 174-kilometer route between the capital Beijing and Zhangjiakou from about three hours to 45 minutes, in contrast to the pre-connection. The top speed is around 350 km/h, making the "Bullet Train" the fastest autonomous train in the world. Don't worry about safety reasons there is always a train driver on board of the train.

The snowboarding, biathlon and ski-jumping events are held in Zhangjiakou, in Hebei Province to the west of Beijing. Taizicheng, which is a special destination, hosts all ski events, while Yaqing is home to bobsleigh, tobogganing and skeleton. The opening and closing ceremonies as well as ice hockey, figure skating, speed skating and curling take place in Beijing.

So if you don't like skates on ice as much as you might like, for example, and you prefer to feel connected to the daredevil snowboard acrobats, you have to make your way to the icy Zhangjiakou, where minus 25 degrees Celsius is the norm. Not really inviting, but at least the trip to the Olympic fridge with its ski resorts Genting and Wanlong is promising.

After all, the trip on the high-speed train - at least in its top configuration, which runs six times a day - offers passengers 5G high-speed Internet on board, intelligent lighting management or even a wireless charging station for the smartphone. The engineers have visibly put some thought into the interior design. In addition to removable seats for wheelchair users, there are also spacious storage facilities for ski equipment.

The one-way trip in second class on the ten stations from Beijing to Zhangjiakou costs the equivalent of about twelve euros and those who want to make a sightseeing stopover will also get their money's worth. With the fourth stop Badaling Great Wall Railway Station, tourists have the opportunity to visit an impressive part of the Great Wall of China.