More high speed rail and maglev lines in China

China Railway began construction on the 78.2km Beijing - Bazhou high-speed line, which will serve the city's new international airport at Daxing, 46km south of the capital.

The line will include four new stations, including an underground station at the airport, and is expected to cost Yuan 27.4bn ($US 4billion), including Yuan 800m for rolling stock.

The Beijing - Daxing International Airport section will have a design speed of 250km/h, with the remainder of the line south to Bazhou being constructed for 350km/h operation.

Construction began on the new airport in December 2014 and the project is due to be completed in September 2019.

In 2016, China began operation on new maglev lines.

The Changsha Maglev is a medium-low speed magnetic levitation, or maglev line in Changsha, China. This is China's second maglev line, after Shanghai Maglev, and the first domestically built maglev line that uses indigenous technology. The line stretches over 18.55 kilometers and runs between Changsha Huanghua International Airport, Langli station and the high-speed railway station Changsha South Railway Station. Its rolling stock is designed for a speed of up to 120 km/h, currently however it is running with a maximum speed of 100 km/h .

Construction started in May 2014, trial running in 26 December 2015, and finally start trial operations on 6 May 2016. Since the beginning of construction in May 2014, the project has received an estimated investment of 4.6 billion yuan ($749 million).

China has the world's only commercial maglev high-speed train line in operation: The Shanghai Maglev Train, a turnkey Transrapid maglev demonstration line 30.5 km long. The trains have a top operational speed of 430 km/h and can reach a top non-commercial speed of 501 km/h. It opened for operations in March 2004, and transports passengers between Shanghai's Longyang Road Metro Station and Shanghai Pudong International Airport. There have been numerous attempts to extend the line without success. A Shanghai-Hangzhou maglev line was also initially discussed but later shelved in favor of conventional high-speed rail.

Two other Maglev lines, the Changsha Maglev and the Line S1 of Beijing, were designed for commercial operations with speeds lower than 120 km/h.

In October 2016 China's CRRC Corp announce it was beginning research and development on a 600 km/h maglev train and would build a 5 km test track.