The Beijing-Tianjin Inter-City Express Railway, the fastest of its kind in service in the world, began operation on August 1, 2008, making possible the urban agglomeration of Beijing and Tianjin, which are the only pair of megalopolises in the world with a straight-line distance of around 100 km.

The express railway cuts the journey time between the two cities to just half an hour.

Trains runs at 300 km per hour on the line, and can reach a top speed of 350 km per hour.