简体中文
The Xiamen-Shenzhen Railway, over 500 km with 18 stops, connects the port city of Xiamen in east China's Fujian Province with Shantou and Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong Province that borders Hong Kong.
The railway is designed to carry more than 10 thousand passengers each day.
The journey between Xiamen and Shenzhen previously took eight hours by coach. Travel time has now been slashed to around three and a half hours.
Linked with existing railways, the line extends east to Shanghai and westward to Guangzhou. It also links a chain of Guangdong's booming cities with Xiamen on the western coast of the Taiwan Strait and a center of trade and cooperation with Taiwan.
SOUNDBITE (CHINESE) XIAO WEI, Xiamen-Shenzhen Railway Guangdong Corporation:
"The railway links major cities on the southeast coast and China's most economically developed regions, and it can also link Hong Kong and Macao as Shenzhen is close to these two cities. I believe the operation of the new railway will boost various aspects of the economy along the southeast coast area, such as tourism and real estate."
A high-speed link between the scenic city of Guilin and Beijing also got going in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, the bridgehead of China-ASEAN cooperation. Guangxi is the first ethnic minority autonomous region with high-speed rail.
By the end of the year, five other lines in the region will start operations to boost regional development and strengthen cooperation between inland areas and ASEAN countries.
As several new rail links started operations, China's railways network topped 100 thousand kilometers in total mileage.
As one of China's busiest travel seasons will begin in the next month, authorities believe the expanded railways network will increase passenger capacity during the 40-day spring travel peak.
