Rail link between Beijing and Guangzhou is finished to bring the national rail network to 9,300km.
A bullet train waits to depart Image: Sjors Proovost |
The first train along the 2,298-kilometre stretch of track left Beijing at 9am on Boxing Day, followed by a train heading in the opposite direction an hour later from Guangzhou. The high-speed bullet train reaches speeds of up to 182 miles per hour (293kmph) and will reduce the previous journey time by almost two-thirds.
The train, named “Harmony” in Chinese, takes just 8 hours end-to-end, compared to 22 hours on the older line, and costs just 865 yuan (£85) for a second-class ticket. More than 150 trains are scheduled to run on the busy line each day.
China now boasts over 5,800 miles (9,300km) of high-speed rail lines, which is still only half its 2015 target of 18,000km. This latest edition is now the longest continuous high-speed line in the world.