China started its first high-speed rail line on Thursday (September 28), which will traverse through multiple bays and skim down the coast of the southeastern province of Fujian near the Taiwan Strait, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
CCTV footage showed the bullet train departing from Fuzhou, Fujian's capital, on Thursday morning, marking the start of the 277-kilometer (172-mile) Fuzhou-Xiamen-Zhangzhou line. According to CCTV, the bullet train has a top speed of 350 kilometres per hour (218 miles per hour).
According to CNN, the new railway currently has 84 bridges and 29 tunnels, plus 20 km (12 miles) of track that goes over the sea, making it the country’s first over-water bullet train.
China Railway claims that the overwater rail sections were built using clever robots and ecologically friendly corrosion-resistant steel.
China recently revealed details of its plan to transform Fujian into an integrated growth zone with Taiwan, which borders the province. China hopes that the link will increase investment prospects and make travel more convenient.
Fujian province is also important because it is the closest area of mainland China to Taiwan's self-governing island. Xiamen lies only 2.5 miles (10 km) across the Taiwan Strait from Kinmen, Taiwan's westernmost district.
A Chinese government official said that an integrated multidimensional transportation network has been built in Fujian that "will make it technically possible to construct a high-speed transport passage linking the province with Taiwan," according to state media.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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