(ECNS) -- Southwest Shandong welcomed its first high-speed railway after a railway section connecting Qufu, Heze and Zhuangzhai cities in east China's Shandong Province joined China's high-speed railway service network on Sunday.
The 199-km Qufu-Heze-Zhuangzhai high-speed railway connected Rizhao City in Shandong and Lankao City in Henan.
It is also an important part of the country's "eight vertical and eight horizontal" railway lines of the national high-speed railway service network, with a design speed of 350 kilometers per hour.
The first 36 high-speed railway trains will initially run at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour .
The commuting time from Heze to Beijing and Jinan (regional capital of Shandong Province) will be shortened to 2 hours and 59 minutes, and 1 hour 23 minutes, respectively.
An opening ceremony was held in Heze, during which traditional culture programs including the dragon dance was performed.