China approves budget for 2022 Winter Olympics rail link

China has approved the budget for a 58.41 billion yuan (USD 9.22 billion) high-speed rail project connecting Beijing to the outdoor venues for the 2022 Winter Olympics, a crucial piece of infrastructure for staging the games.
State media reports said construction on the 174 kilometre (108-mile) line to Zhangjiakou in neighbouring Hebei province will last 4 years.
The cost of the rail line had not been included in the games' approximately USD 3 billion budget because Chinese authorities said it would be built anyway as part of a national high-speed network.
Beijing's lack of high mountains nearby required the locating of the outdoor events in Yangqing and Zhangjiakou, 60 and 140 kilometres (40 and 90 miles) outside the city. Indoor events will use venues in Beijing's city center, most of them left over from the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Beijing is the only city to have won bids for both the Summer and Winter Olympics, basing its appeal on that experience, financial strength and the possibility of expanding interest in winter sports among the 300 million Chinese living in the country's north.
While Beijing has retained its Olympic operational knowledge and many of its experienced organisers, the IOC sent its own experts to Beijing this week to walk staff through aspects of its "Olympic Agenda 2020" program for staging the games.
Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi led a seminar yesterday and tomorrow for about 350 staff members.
IOC President Thomas Bach addressed the group by video link, saying: "This meeting is the first step on our seven-year journey together to deliver brilliant Olympic Winter Games in 2022 for Beijing, for China, and for the world.