China has launched its first high-speed rail line that will traverse bays across the ocean, extending along the southeastern coast of Fujian Province near the Taiwan Strait, according to reports from official Chinese media on Thursday.
China’s state news agency, Xinhua, reported that a high-speed train departed from Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province, on Thursday morning to inaugurate the Fuzhou-Xiamen-Zhangzhou line, which spans 277 kilometers (172 miles).
China Railway Limited, the country’s railway operator, stated that this is China’s first transoceanic high-speed rail line, which will run on bridges crossing three coastal bays, reaching a maximum speed of 350 kilometers (217 miles) per hour.
Travel time between Fuzhou and Xiamen, an economic center and renowned tourist destination, will now take less than an hour.
This project is part of China’s expanding high-speed rail network that spans the country.
By last year, the length of operational high-speed rail lines in China had reached 42,000 kilometers (26,097 miles), and since June 2022, the length of high-speed rail lines regularly operating at speeds of 350 kilometers per hour (217 mph) has approached 3,200 kilometers (1,988 miles).
