The first subway line to cross the Yangtze River, China's longest waterway, will open Friday in Wuhan, capital of central China's Hubei province, local authorities said Thursday.

Trains will start running at 10 a.m. Friday at a speed of 80 km per hour, the municipal government said in a press release.

The trains' route is 50 minutes long, passing through a 27-km tunnel that links Wuchang and Hankou, two major urban areas in Wuhan, the release said.

Trains will only take three minutes to run under the Yangtze River, it said.

The subway line will be Wuhan's first, expected to transport 500,000 passengers daily with 26 trains scheduled to run every six minutes.

The 6,300-km Yangtze River, which originates in northwest China's Qinghai province and traverses through 10 provinces and municipalities before flowing into the East China Sea, is a major transport link between west and east China.

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