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A crew member waits for passengers in the train at Guiyang North Railway Station in Guiyang, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Jan. 25, 2018. A railway connecting Chongqing and Guiyang, two major cities in southwest China opened on Thursday. Designed for passenger trains running at a speed of 200 km per hour, the 347-km railway will improve traffic between China's southwest and the rest of the country. (Xinhua/Ou Dongqu)

CHONGQING/GUIYANG, Jan. 25 (Xinhua) -- A railway connecting Chongqing and Guiyang, two major cities in southwest China, started operation Thursday.

A bullet train left Chongqing Municipality for Guiyang, capital of Guizhou Province, at 8:50 a.m.

Designed for trains running at a speed of 200 km per hour, the 347-km rail line will cut travel time between Chongqing and Guiyang from the current 10 hours to 2 hours, and shorten travel time between Chengdu, capital of Sichuan, and Guiyang to 3.5 hours.

The railway will improve traffic between China's southwest and booming southern areas.