The mainland will today roll out its new nationwide 'rail acceleration programme', which includes the introduction of bullet trains, some of which will travel up to 250km/h.
Domestic media has given the programme wide coverage in the past fortnight, declaring that it will boost the country's economic and social development.
The programme involves 18 major routes, including services between Beijing and Hong Kong. In most cases, the maximum speed will rise to 200km/h, but for services between Beijing and Harbin , Beijing and Guangzhou, and Beijing and Shanghai, the top speed will be 250km/h.
Mainland media reported that 416 trains operating on routes within the Beijing-Bohai region, the Pearl River Delta, and the Yangtze River Delta would run up to 200km/h.
Travel times to Beijing from Shanghai will be snipped by two hours, while it will take four hours less to reach the capital from Harbin. And it will take only 31 hours to travel from Guangzhou to Chongqing , down from 38 hours before the upgrade.
In addition, the amount of track around the nation with a top permissible speed of 160km/h will rise from 7,700km to 14,000km.