China to launch high-speed railway from central to south China

WUHAN, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- A railway linking Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province and Guangdong's capital Guangzhou city was set for trial run on Wednesday.

It took three hours for trains to cover the 1,068.6-kilometer railway, said an official with the railway bureau of Wuhan.

Drivers lead the train trough the tunnel on the Wuhan-Guangzhou Railway,  Dec. 9, 2009. The High-Speed Passenger-dedicated Wuhan-Guangzhou Railway,  which extends to 1068.6 km in full length and scheduled to be operational  by the end of 2009, has made its trial operation on wednesday.  (Xinhua/Lu Hanxin)

The railway costs about 116.6 billion yuan (about 17 billion U.S. dollars) and shortens the 10.5-hour trip between Wuhan and Guangzhou to three hours.

Trial operation of the railway shall start on December 20, according to the official.

China is in a fervor of improving its railway system amid transportation pressure. As planned, it will build 42 high-speed passenger rail lines with a total length of 13,000 kilometers in the three years.

The test-running trains prepares for their first journey at the station  in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, Dec. 9, 2009.  (Xinhua/Lu Hanxin)