BEIJING (Reuters) – China launched its first high-speed rail line that will travel across ocean bays, skimming along the coast of the southeastern province of Fujian near the Taiwan Strait, according to state media on Thursday.
A bullet train departed from Fuzhou, the capital of east China’s Fujian province Thursday morning, setting up the opening of the 277-km (172-mile) Fuzhou-Xiamen-Zhangzhou railway, Xinhua reported.
It is China’s first cross-sea, rapid line with bullet trains that will travel over bridges across three coastal bays and hit top speeds of 350 km per hour (218 mph), state media said, citing China State Railway Group Co Ltd, the country’s railway operator.
Travel time between Fuzhou and Xiamen, an economic hub and popular tourist locale, will be under an hour.
China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group Co Ltd designed the railway project, which adds to the country’s sprawling high-speed rail network.
By 2022, China had 42,000 km of operational high-speed railway, and the length of high-speed rail regularly operating at 350 km per hour neared 3,200 km as of June 2022.
Separately, earlier this week China unveiled its first commercial suspended monorail line in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province.
(Reporting by Bernard Orr and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
