The Ministry of Environment Protection recently approved a plan to construct a Beijing-Shenshang high-speed rail in 2014 that will shorten the trip from Hefei to Shenyang to seven hours.

With an investment of over 125.8 billion yuan ($20.6 billion), it is the second high-speed railway passage linking Northeast China with North China.

The railway will start from Xinghuo Station in Beijing and end at Shenyang Station in the city of Shenyang, Liaoning province.

Its length is over 697 kilometers, and it has a maximum speed of 350 kilometers per hour.

For now, the fast train route T242/243 is the only train available connecting Hefei and Shenyang. The journey takes over 22 hours.

By Huang Pei

Edited by Michael Thai