North China's Tianjin Municipality is planning to enhance its transport network to other cities and especially to Beijing, according to its mayor, Dai Xianglong.

A railway costing some US$14.3 billion will be completed and in use by 2007. This will reduce travel time between Beijing and Tianjin to just thirty minutes, instead of the current seventy minutes. New expressways will also be built between the two cities.

Currently there is only one expressway linking Beijing and Tianjin. It was designed to cope with 50,000 cars a day, but is often loaded with almost two times that number.

(CRIENGLISH.com November 15, 2004)