NOT only is it fast, it comes with live TV and the commuters are raving about it.

A high-speed Beijing airport rail link built in time for the Olympics won kudos from its first batch of passengers who were whisked from the city's gleaming new terminal to downtown in under 20 minutes.

"Normally I take a taxi and that can take an hour or more," said Hongkong visitor Chen Jianlan, who took one of the first trains into town after the line opened on Saturday.

The 27km line links downtown to the massive new airport Terminal 3, which opened five months ago. It also runs to Terminal 2, Beijing Capital Airport's other international hub.

Locals are also impressed with the new line. Said tour guide Zhang Yuzhen: "I am proud to be Chinese.

"When you see this fantastic airport terminal, and then you go into the new rail concourse, you just get a lump in your throat.".

The line that is part of a mass transit upgrade undertaken by the city in time for the Beijing Olympics, which opens in under three weeks.

China is using the 8 Aug to 24 Aug Games to present a polished image to the outside world, and the athletes, VIPs and tourists who choose to use the airport rail link when they arrive for the Games will be impressed, according to businessman Jiang Yong.

"I've been overseas and I think this is pretty good by comparison to what I have seen there," said the 35-year-old salesman for US jet engine maker Pratt and Witney.

At the rail terminal, travellers pay 25 yuan ($5) to get a ticket for the ride into town from staff like 25-year-old Li Ge, dressed in a crisp new dark blue uniform.

"Once they get off the plane, one of the first things they see in China will be our smiling faces," said the subway employee.

The trains reach 110kmh while passengers watch live television on flat-panel video screens in the air-conditioned comfort of red-and-grey upholstered chairs.

Two new subway lines also went into service on Saturday as Beijing strives to improve the public transport system to reduce traffic gridlock and improve air quality ahead of the Olympics.

The new lines, including a link to the main Olympic Stadium, add an extra 58km to the over-stretched subway system at a cost of 22.3 billion yuan.

But the public will have to wait until after the Olympics to use the new subway branch line serving the main Games venues.

The new lines' opening coincides with China's last-ditch bid to beat pollution before the Games.

Yesterday, Beijing implemented broad traffic restrictions to keep more than one million cars off Beijing's streets during the Games.

This article was first published in The New Paper on July 21, 2008.