Construction of the Qahar Right Wing Front Banner Tunnel on the Jining-Datong-Taiyuan High-speed Railway breaks ground on Sept 16. [Photo/WeChat of Inner Mongolia Daily]

The Qahar Right Wing Front Banner Tunnel on the Jining-Datong-Taiyuan High-Speed Railway officially broke ground on Sept 16.

Qahar Right Wing Front Banner is administered by the city of Ulaanqab in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

HSR officials said the development marked an important step for Inner Mongolia to connect to the national high-speed railway network.

The 269.6 kilometer-long high-speed railway connects Ulaanqab city in Inner Mongolia to Datong and Yuanpin cities in North China’s Shanxi province.

Officials said the railway is being jointly built by the China State Railway Group Co, together with the governments of Inner Mongolia and Shanxi, over a 4.5-year period. 

According to plans, the 72 kilometer-long section in Inner Mongolia will be completed in four years.

A total of eight stations will be set up along the railway, including Ulaanqab, Fengzhen West, Datong South, Huairen East, Yingxian West, Shanyin South, Shuozhou East and Daixian West stations.

Officials said the design speed of the railway is 250 km/h and it has a long-term transportation capacity of 30 million people per year.