When a high-speed train leaves the city of Hunchun in Jilin province for the city of Changchun, on Sept 20, it marks the opening of the Northeast's most beautiful high-speed line which has many scenic spots along the way and links China with Russia, DPRK, ROK, Japan and Mongolia as well, Xinhua reports.

Work on the Jilin-Tumen-Hunchun high-speed railway line began in 2011 and it went into trial operation this past August as a key construction project of Jilin's "12th Five-year Plan" and has been dubbed the "Northeast's most beautiful railway line" because of the Changbai Mountains, Songhua Lake, Jingbo Lake and Red-leaf Valley that dot the route, as well as cities like Jilin, Jiaohe, Dunhua, Antu, Yanji, Tumen and Hunchun.

A girl takes pictures with the Jilin-Tumen-Hunchun high-speed train before boarding, at the Hunchun railway station, Hunchun, Jilin province, on Sept 20. [Photo by Jiang Shengsong/Asianewsphoto]

People dance at Hunchun railway station to celebrate the opening of the Jilin-Tumen-Hunchun high-speed railway. [Photo by Jiang Shengsong/Asianewsphoto]

Passengers take pictures on the train. [Photo by Jiang Shengsong/Asianewsphoto]

Passengers take pictures on the train. [Photo by Jiang Shengsong/Asianewsphoto]

The line has cut the travel time from Changchun to Hunchun down from 7 hours to 2 hours and it's the first passenger line to Hunchun, with a daily capacity of 27,000. It is expected to handle a total of 33 million passengers in 15 years.

It is part of a national strategy to develop the Changchun-Jilin-Hunchun area, and to make the movement of talent, capital, technology and information from the cities of Changchun and Jilin to Hunchun more convenient, and to integrate development in the area, according to the head of the Jilin Development and Reform Commission, Jiang Youwei.

Hunchun expects to use the line to develop other types of transportation to be an international passageway for Northeast Asia, says Gao Yulong, municipal Party secretary of Hunchun.

The new line is also expected to improve the entire northeast China transportation network, help regional economic development and create unity among ethnic groups, experts say.