Shandong opened its first intercity high-speed railway on Sunday, connecting Qingdao, Yantai and Weihai, three coastal cities. The 286-km line is designed for trains to travel at up to 250 km per hour. Part of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway, the line shortens the travel time between Weihai and Beijing from 16 hours to six, and the time between Yantai and Beijing is shortened to five hours. For years, the development of Yantai and Weihai has been confined due to the inconvenient traffic.

 "The annual number of tourists to Yantai is 10 million less than that of tourists to Qingdao due to poor railway facilities," said Gu Weiliang, deputy director of the development and reform commission of Yantai. Gu said the newly opened high-speed railway will be a new engine to drive the city's development to a new high.

The high-speed railway is described as "an event that will open a new era" for Rongcheng, a county-level city of Weihai, said Yue Henggang, deputy director of the development and reform commission of Weihai. "This is the first time that Rongcheng has a railway link," said Yue, adding that the railway will bring more tourists to the city including South Koreans.

Shandong is putting efforts on building railways to promote its social and economic development. Statistics from Shandong Development and Reform Commission show the province has opened 5,412 kilometers long railway in total.

By Zhao Ruixue