The suburban railway line, Huairou-Miyun Line, is gaining increasing popularity among urban residents and tourists. In April, the passenger volume exceeded 100,000, a nearly 40% increase since the beginning of the year, operating at full capacity during peak holiday periods.

Take photos at Xihshan Footpath of Yanqi Lake in Huairou, ride along the lake to Miyun Gubeikou, stroll through the "Jiangnan Water Town", and climb steep Simatai Great Wall. Affordable tickets, no traffic jams, and beautiful scenery along the way.

Connecting "Five Districts of Beijing" with seven stations

Popular seats in carriage 4 are still in high demand on weekdays.

At 6:55 am on Wednesday, the pink and white train of Huairou-Miyun Line departed punctually from the dedicated platform at Beijingbei Railway Station, carrying passengers on a journey to the suburb of Beijing.

"This carriage, with small tables between the double seats, is especially good for playing cards with friends." As a member of the elderly "mountaineering group", Aunt Wang and over ten tour companions from Chongqing specifically traveled to Miyun Gubeikou for hiking and mountain climbing. "Taking the train is worry-free; and you will reach scenic area without traffic jams while chatting and enjoying the scenery on the road". At Qinghe Station, the train picked up another group of passengers living in the northern urban area. A mother pushed a small suitcase with one hand and led her 6-year-old daughter onto the train with the other, "We live near Qinghe Station, so we just walked over to catch the train. Taking my child to the suburbs by car is unsafe, and she loves taking the train."

The Huairou-Miyun Line spans 144.6 kilometers and includes seven stations: Beijing North Railway Station, Qinghe Railway Station, Changping North Railway Station, Yanqi Lake Railway Station, Huairou North Railway  Station, Heishansi Railway Station, and Gubeikou Railway   Station.

The Huairou-Miyun Line connects the districts of Xicheng, Haidian, Changping, Huairou, and Miyun, traversing from the bustling urban areas through flower fields to the suburb. Enjoy peach blossoms in spring, red leaves in autumn, cooling wheather in summer, and snow views in winter. There are scenery spots all the way.

The train manager Xu Tingting said, " the Yanqi Lake Railway Station is located at the foot of the Yanshan Mountain near the Great Wall, just six or seven kilometers away from the Yanqi Lake Scenic Area. From the station, you can also visit the Hongluo Temple Scenic Area and the Great Wall-Mutianyu. Seven kilometers from the Huairou North Railway Station is the Qinglong Gorge Scenic Area. Near the Heishansi Railway Station, there are attractions such as the Yunmeng Mountain National Forest Park, the Heilongtan Scenic Area, and the Taoyuan Xiangu Scenic Area. The final stop of the Huairou-Miyun Line, Gubeikou Railway Station, is 14 kilometers away from the Beijing WTown and the Great Wall -Simatai

Friendly carriage layout

Near the Yanqi Lake Railway Station, passengers can enjoy distant views of landmarks such as the Yanqi Pagoda, the International Convention Center, and the Sunrise Kempinski Hotel from the train. Between the Heishansi Railway Station and the Gubeikou Railway Station, the train glides over the vast, shimmering Miyun Reservoir. The small train passes over the vast and shimmering Miyun Reservoir.

As summer approaches, the Huairou-Miyun Line is adorned with lush greenery.

The Huairou-Miyun Line train has two key features - larger windows for better enjoyment of the scenery, and side benches and grab rails similar to subway cars for standing passengers.

The scenery outside the train is breathtaking, and the interior layout is also distinctive. The Huairou-Miyun Line uses the CRH6F-A electric multiple unit train, with a top speed of 160 kilometers per hour. The new model features 4 carriages, with wide double doors and a '2+2' seating arrangement. It is equipped with Wi-Fi, charging sockets, restrooms, including accessible facilities like barrier-free restrooms, baby care stations, small tables, and other humanized amenities.

With these features, the Huairou-Miyun Line can meet the operational requirements of high passenger capacity, fast boarding and alighting, and quick start and stop. "The train has a total of 226 seats and can accommodate up to 643 passengers," Xu Tingting told reporters. During the recent May Day holiday and weekend travel peaks, the Huairou-Miyun Line has been extremely popular, operating at full capacity.

To better serve passengers, during the summer and winter seasons, shuttle buses bring passengers to the station, where ticket inspection is conducted early, allowing passengers to enter the station to cool off or warm up.

As a popular station on the tourist route and the terminal station of the Huairou-Miyun Line, Gubeikou Railway Station is particularly lively on weekends and holidays. The small waiting room is filled with tourists, including many foreigners with blonde hair and blue eyes. "In recent years, the number of foreign tourists has been increasing. The station is equipped with translation machines to facilitate smooth communication between staff and foreign tourists," said Wang Huanran, the deputy station manager of Gubeikou Railway Station.

Dual-purpose line: serving both tourism and commuting

The Huairou-Miyun Line, a suburban railway line in Beijing, serves both commuting and tourism purposes. Whether for a suburban excursion or daily commuting to work or school, the Huairou-Miyun Line accommodates passengers for "early departures and late returns."

For residents in the central city area who wish to depart in the morning to visit Gubeikou in Miyun District, they can take the S501 train from Beijing North Railway Station (departing at 6:55 am), with a total travel time of approximately two and a half hours. If they prefer to head to Yanqi Lake in the morning, they have the option of several trains departing from Beijing North Railway Station or Qinghe Railway Station, with a travel time of just over an hour.

Currently, the Huairou-Miyun Line operates 8 pairs of trains daily. This includes 4 pairs of trains departing and terminating between Beijing North and Huairou North, 2 pairs departing from Qinghe to Huairou North, and 2 pairs departing from Beijing North to Gubeikou, with a maximum one-way fare of 12 yuan.

The Huairou-Miyun Line has introduced an earlier train, the S522, which terminates at Qinghe Railway Station, allowing long-distance commuters to arrive at Qinghe Station before 8:00 am and easily transfer to the subway for a swift journey to their workplaces.

Every morning, there are also many commuters traveling into the city from Huairou and Changping on the Huairou-Miyun Line. Huairou North Railway Station is close to the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and many students and faculty members choose to take the Huairou-Miyun Line for their travels. Xu Tingting told reporters that the S512 train departing from Huairou North at 7:01 am has the highest number of commuters, reaching Changping North around 8:00 am. There, a large number of commuters transfer to Qinghe Railway Station and Beijing North Railway Station, arriving at the two stations at 8:21 am and 8:38 am, respectively.

It is important to note that seating on Huairou-Miyun Line trains is not reserved, similar to the subway, and seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis.

The Huairou-Miyun Line accepts payment through suburban railway IC cards, the Yitongxing app QR codes (with person-code authentication), China Railway Yintong cards, and railway magnetic tickets (including electronic tickets) with real-name registration.

Translator: DING Hongwei

Reviewer: BAI Jing

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