China's first passenger-only railway, linking Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, and Qinhuangdao, a port city in northern Hebei Province, began operation on Sunday.

The Qinhuangdao-Shenyang high-speed passenger-only railway, 404.64 kilometers long, was built at a cost of 15.7 billion yuan (US$1.9 billion) between August 1999 and June this year.

The double-line electrified rail route allows passenger trains to run at a speed of 200-250 kilometers per hour.

The new line is expected to relieve the burden on railway transport in north and northeast China, and to stimulate economic development in northeast China and areas along the Bohai Bay, said Liu Youmei, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering. 　　

Liu said the new railway will lay a foundation for the construction of more high-speed railways in China.

As the railway will eventually end at Beijing, the railway administration of China will change the name of the line to the "Beijing-Qinhuangdao-Shenyang Express Passage".

(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2003)