Construction of the Guangzhou-Zhanjiang high-speed railway was launched in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province, on June 30. Once completed, the new railway will slash the travel time between the two cities from three to 1.5 hours.

The 401-kilometer-long high-speed rail line is planned to start from Guangzhou Railway Station and terminate at Zhanjiang North Station in downtown Zhanjiang, passing through cities of Foshan, Zhaoqing, Yunfu, Yangjiang and Maoming. With an estimated investment of 99.8 billion yuan (about US$14.12 billion), it makes the longest and most heavily invested high-speed rail line in the province, as well as the first high-speed railway allowing trains to travel as fast as 350 kilometers per hour in western Guangdong.

Adopting a technique of shield tunneling, the railway will be the first to travel through Zhanjiang Bay underwater, which will better preserve the costal city's urban landscape and marine ecosystem and mitigate the impact of extreme weather conditions—like typhoons—on traffic.

The railway is expected to be completed in 2024, according to local authorities.

The Guangzhou-Zhanjiang high-speed railway is an important part of China's "eight vertical and eight horizontal" high-speed railway networks, bridging the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the Hainan Free Trade Port in China's southern island province. It is expected to boost Zhanjiang's transport network expansion and help strengthen the city's position as a national comprehensive transportation hub, pumping vitality into the region's economical and social development.

At present, it takes around three hours to travel from Guangzhou South Railway Station to Zhanjiang West Railway Station via trains with a designed speed of 200 kilometers per hour. Both terminals of the present rail line, however, are situated away from downtown areas.