Secret System of Rail Lines, Tunnels Reportedly Connect Key Beijing Sites

China’s hard-line leaders have built secret rail tunnels under Beijing that could be used in crushing resurgent protests or to enable officials to flee in a crisis, according to a program to be broadcast today.

A former Chinese civil servant, who fled to Hong Kong after troops crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in June, told the British “World in Action” television program that the tunnels link leaders’ homes, government buildings, the central bank and an army base.

“We built up this network over 40 years as a defense against a foreign invader . . . but now they could use such means to escape from China or to deal the last blow against the people,” he said, according to a transcript of the program.

Rumors of a secret rail line and an interlinking honeycomb of passages have circulated in Beijing for many years, but there has never been any confirmation.

The informant said there is a station under the Great Hall of the People and another station at the government residence compound, Zhongnanhai.

Still another line goes to the Bank of China, allowing security forces to evacuate gold reserves in a crisis, he said. There is also a line to the Xi Shan military base, carved into the side of a mountain to the west of the city.

The program did not reveal the name of the former civil servant, saying only that he was a junior official in his 20s with access to high-level information and close contact with leaders.