FENGTAI IS ON TRACK FOR NEW DEPARTURES

At 7:26 am on June 20, the G601 Fuxing bullet train departed from Beijing Fengtai Station, marking the rebirth and official operation of the centennial station after three and a half years of construction. It is the largest railway hub passenger station in Asia and the first large-scale passenger station in China with a double-decker yard design.

The top-level is assigned to high-speed rail and the ground-level to normal-speed trains, with the underground subway below. As one of China's major railway projects, its completion and operation heralds Beijing's ambition to improve its comprehensive transportation system and facilitate the coordinated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in North China.

Founded in 1895, Fengtai Station is the first railway station in Beijing and has successively become an important hub on the Beijing-Hankou, Beijing-Fengtian, Beijing-Zhangjiakou railway lines.

Beijing's railway has expanded since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The Beijing West Railway station has stolen some of Fengtai's thunder in the past 20 years. Fengtai's role was declining until 2010 when the station finally stopped catering to passenger traffic. In the same year, the reconstruction and expansion of Fengtai was put on the agenda. In 2018, the government officially launched the Fengtai Station reconstruction project and the new Fengtai Station construction project.

For more than three years, photographer Yuan Ruilun has continuously been recording the reconstruction process. About 1 kilometer to the east of the former station, the brand-new Fengtai Railway Station rises from the ground. The construction area of the station's complex is about 400,000 square meters, twice the size of the Forbidden City. It can accommodate up to 14,000 people per hour with its 32 arrival and departure lines, and 32 passenger platforms.

The station's total steel consumption is nearly 200,000 tonnes. One of its key features is the 400-meter-long central lighted court. With 200 tubes redirecting the sunlight, the station saves more than 900,000 kWh of electricity every year and reduces carbon emissions by more than 900 tonnes.

Beijing West Railway Station has the most passenger flow in the capital. The current Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway had only one drop-off station in Beijing. Due to the transmission capacity of Beijing West Railway Station, it was difficult for the railway authority to increase capacity on the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway. The opening of Beijing Fengtai Railway Station has greatly relieved the transportation pressure.

The new station now handles the Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway, the Beijing-Hong Kong high-speed railway, the Beijing-Kowloon passenger railway, and serves as a super large transportation hub for transfer for the Fengtai-Shacheng, Beiing-Taiyuan, Beijing-Shanghai lines and suburban railways.

Beijing Fengtai Station integrates a variety of travel modes. Passengers can easily transfer between intercity and intracity transportation within the station. It is a veritable transportation complex and an important fulcrum of the national transportation strategy and national security strategy. The opening of Beijing Fengtai Station is a manifestation of the practice of "powering the country with the railway leading the way".

The integration of stations and cities drives the development of urban areas. Stations in every city are constantly attracting people, and the concentration of people brings unlimited business opportunities to the region. Commerce develops near stations. The urban composite space gradually blurs the boundary of the station, and various urban composite functions are integrated into one.

In the future, Beijing Fengtai Railway Station will further its integration into the network with Beijing Railway Station, Beijing West Railway Station, Beijing South Railway Station, Beijing North Railway Station, Qinghe Railway Station, Beijing Chaoyang Railway Station, Beijing City Sub-Central Station to improve the comprehensive transportation system in the capital.