China unveiled what it touted as the fastest rail link in the world on Saturday, the Agence France Presse reported.
The train will run between the cities of Guangzhou and Wuhan. At an average speed of 217 miles per hour, the high-speed train reduces the 664 mile ride from ten and a half hours to just three hours, an official Xinhua news agency said, according to AFP.
Construction on the rail link began in 2005. The idea was to connect Guangzhou, a business hub in southern China near Hong Kong, with the capital Beijing, Xinhua said, according to AFP.
"The train can go (217 miles) per hour, it's the fastest train in operation in the world," Zhang Shuguang, head of the transport bureau at the railways ministry, told Xinhua, AFP reported.
Japan's high-speed trains operate at 150 miles per hour, while in France they run at an average speed of 172 miles an hour.
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