Zhengzhou-Taiyuan High-speed Railway start trial runs on Nov 20. [Photo/Shanxi Daily]

The new Zhengzhou-Taiyuan High-speed Railway from North to Central China started trial runs on Nov 20 with two electric multiple-unit trains departing from Taiyuan South Railway Station and Zhengzhou Railway Station on the same day.

The north-south high-speed railway from Taiyuan, capital of North China's Shanxi province to Zhengzhou, capital of Central China's Henan province, extends around 432 kilometers and connects the newly built Taiyuan-Jiaozuo High-speed Railway with the existing Zhengzhou-Jiaozuo High-speed Railway.

The section between Taiyuan in Shanxi province and Jiaozuo in Henan province is 358.8 km in total length and has 13 stations, with a design speed of 250 km per hour.

A driver controls the electric multiple-unit train during the trial run. [Photo/Shanxi Daily]

The Zhengzhou-Taiyuan High-speed Railway is expected to be ready for operation in mid-December. Once put into use, it will only take some two hours to travel between two provincial capitals, saving more than one hour compared with the current detour across Shijiazhuang, and shaving off nearly nine hours of travel time compared with traveling by conventional trains.

Its opening will have a positive and far-reaching impact on accelerating economic and social exchanges between provinces and autonomous regions in North China and the Yangtze River Delta region in East China, the Pearl River Delta region in South China, Chengdu and Chongqing cities in Southwest China.

It will also help boost the rise of Central China and the development of West China.