The 53.2 kilometres extension will travel from Zhangjiakou city to Chongli resort, the planned home for freestyle skiing, snowboarding, cross country, ski jumping and biathlon.

It will compliment the 174 kilometres link from Beijing to Zhangjiakou, which is already due to cost ¥58.41 billion (£5.98 billion/$9.21 billion/€8.39 billion).

That journey is due to last 50 minutes, with the branch to Chongli taking an extra 25.

Construction of the extension has been approved by the China Railway Corporation and Hebei Provincial Government.

Work is due to begin later this year and should be finished in 2019.

As well as marking a crucial part of the transport plan for the Winter Olympics, the extension should also help boost general tourism in Chongli and improve transportation for locals.

It will serve as part of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regional intercity rail network.

This comes after Chinese officials repeatedly refused to reveal the cost of the railway network when bidding for the Games last year, insisting it was "unrelated to the bid".

This claim can be challenged, particularly because it is envisaged as such a key part of the transport plan for athletes and officials as well as spectators.

It sits alongside a "balanced" Organising Committee budget of ¥6.5 billion  (£1.3 billion/$1.98 billion/€1.8 billion) in projected 2022 value.

There are also questions over whether the journey from Beijing to Zhangjiakou - which takes over three hours by road - would really be reduced to just 50 minutes.

International Olympic Committee Evaluation Commission members suggested it may take longer.