GLOBALink | High-speed train designed for Beijing Winter Olympics makes first journey

BEIJING, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- The first train custom-made for the Beijing Winter Olympics set off on Thursday on the high-speed railway linking Beijing and Zhangjiakou, the co-host cities of the upcoming 2022 Winter Games.

The train is decorated with a Winter Olympics-themed coating and has various special facilities, including lockers for ski gear and wheelchair accessible spaces, as well as a newsroom capable of 5G-assisted livestreaming, according to the China State Railway Group Co., Ltd.

With a maximum designed speed of 350 kilometers per hour, the train shuttles between the three main competition clusters -- Beijing's downtown area, its northwest Yanqing District, and Zhangjiakou in north China's Hebei Province.

The train's schedule shows that it can reach Taizicheng, the location of an Olympic resort in Zhangjiakou, within 50 minutes.

The Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed rail went into operation on Dec. 30, 2019, to facilitate inter-city traffic and the commute between Olympic venues.

Produced by Xinhua Global Service