China approves $36 bln railway plan for Jing-Jin-Ji megacity

China has approved a 247 billion yuan ($36 billion) railway plan to improve transport links between the capital Beijing, the port city of Tianjin, and the neighbouring province of Hebei, part of plans to integrate the three areas into a mega-city.

The National Development and Reform Commission said in a online statement on Monday that the plan will span nine projects that total 1,100 kilometers long. These projects will be built over the years to 2020, and are part of a wider plan that will stretch to 2030, it said.

The current population of the three areas is estimated at around 110 million, and by the time it's complete, the so-called Jing-Jin-Ji project will span 212,000 square kilometers, or more than twice the size of South Korea.