China expands high-speed rail network by 1,142km, adds Xiongan - South China Morning Post

Ralph JenningsPublished: 7:30am, 29 Sep 2026China officially opened 1,142km (710 miles) of high-speed railways in multiple parts of the country on Monday ahead of a golden week for travel, extending what is already the world’s largest network of its kind.

The high-speed system would now link Xiongan New Area in northern China’s Hebei province to Shangqiu in the central province of Henan, and would eventually connect both cities with a Beijing-Hong Kong line, state broadcaster CCTV said.

Xiongan, with a population of 1.4 million, was established nine years ago to take urban pressure off Beijing and was hailed as China’s ‘city of the future’ by President Xi Jinping.

“You are looking finally at a [high-speed] rail link out of Xiongan, which hitherto has been a huge station with limited patronage but is now linked to the nationwide network,” said David Feng, an independent Chinese railway specialist.