A railway line from the city of Xiamen, Fujian province, to Shenzhen, Guangdong province, will have a test run, on Nov 23, Fznews.com.cn reported on Thursday, starting in Xinmen and passing through the cities of Jiaomei, Zhangzhou, Zhangbu, Yunxiao and Zhao'an.

Joint debugging on the Fujian section was completed, on Nov 12 while that on the Guangdong section is in the final phase. The railway is expected to have its first official run before the end of the year. When it is completed, the ride to Shenzhen will take only five hours.

The railway will provide connections between Fuzhou and Xiamen, Longyan and Xiamen, Yingtan and Xianmen, Guangzhou and the Shenzhen railway line and Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong. It also joins the Hangzhou-Shenzhen line, one of China's planned express passenger lines.

The line to Shenzhen railway will link the Yangtze River Delta economic zone, the Haixi Economic Zone and the Zhujiang River Delta and will increase the transportation capacity of China's southeast coastal areas and Fujian's economic development.

Edited by Zhao Qian and Roger Bradshaw