The Chinese government has halted two railway projects in the north of the country, reported China Daily.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection stated that construction of the line between Tianjin municipality and Qinhuangdao, Hebei province, could not continue as there had been no application for re-evaluation after changing some route locations. Meanwhile, the Jiaoji passenger railway between Qingdao and Jinan, Shandong province, was ordered to stop operation because the line had not passed an environmental assessment.

The two notices were published at a time of some upheaval at the Ministry of Railways, including the dismissal of railway minister Liu Zhijun for disciplinary reasons in February and a re-evaluation of China’s high-speed rail expansion.